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THE  LEBANON  WAR  OFFICE 


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The  Lebanon  War  Office 

THE 

HISTORY  OF  THE  BUILDING, 

AND 

REPORT  OF  THE  CELEBRATION 

AT 

LEBANON,  CONN., 

FLAG    DAY,    JUNE    i^,    1891. 

In  Commemoration  of  the  War 
^  Office  and  of  the  Adoption  of  our  ;^ 

National  Flag. 


PUBLISHED    BY    THE 

Connecticut  Society  of  Sons  of  tbe  Hmerican  TRcvolution, 

AND 

Sold  for  the  Benefit  of  the  Society's  Memorial  Fund. 


Edited  by  foNATHAN  Trumbull. 


HARTFORD,   CONN. 

Press  of  Thk  Case,  Lockwood  &  Brainard  Company. 
1S91. 


Copyright,  1891, 
By  Jonathan  Trumbull. 


CONTENTS. 


Lebanon  and  the  War  Office 

Importance  of  Lebanon  in  Revolutionary  times     . 

The  early  history  of  the  War  Office        .... 

The  Council  of  Safety,  and  its  meetings  at  Lebanon     . 

The  War  Office  after  the  Revolution       .... 

Its  conveyance  to  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution 

Repairs  and  restorations  ...... 

Papers  found  in  the  building  during  repairs  . 

Ensign  Moland's  letter 

History  of  the  writer's  adventures  .... 

Ralph  Isaac's  letter 

Gov.  Franklin  ........ 

Treatment  of  Isaacs  by  the  General  Assembly  and  Council 
of  Safety   .......••• 

The  Celebration  of  the  Restoration  of  the  War  Office 
Arrangements  and  general  features  of  the  celebration 
Address  by  Gen.  Joseph  R.  Hawley  .... 

The  Collation 

Afternoon  Exercises 

Prayer  by  Rev.  William  DeLoss  Love 

Presentation  of  the  War  Office  by  Hon.  Nathaniel  B.Williams 
Acceptance  by  the  President  of   the    Connecticut   Society 

Sons  of  the  American  Revolution    . 
Address  by  Mr.  Erastus  Geer 
Poem  by  Mr.  Thomas  S.  Collier 
Oration  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard  W.  Bacon 
Reading  of  Letters  by  the  Hon.  E.  J.  Hill     . 
Congratulatory  Address  by  the  Hon.  Charles  A.  Russell 
Flag  Day  Address  by  Mr.  Jonathan  F.  Morris 
Address  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  G.  Buckingham 

Appendix 

Gov.  Trumbull's  Proclamation 

The  Trumbull  Papers 

Anecdote  of  a  patriotic  woman 

A  Newspaper  comment 

Index        


5 
6 

7 
9 

lO 

II 

12 

14 
15 
i6 
i6 

17 

20 
27 

30 

30 


33 
35 
38 
43 
57 
62 
64 
74 

83 
88 

89 
90 

93 


f  N  connection  with  this  publication,  it  seems  really  neces- 
*  sary  that  a  slight  historical  sketch  of  the  War  Office 
should  be  given,  embodying  such  matters  of  interest  as  did 
not  come  within  the  scope  of  the  various  able  and  interest- 
ing addresses  of  the  occasion.  This  report  is,  therefore, 
prefaced  by  the  following  sketch,  which  was  read  before 
the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  Sept.  15,  1891.  That 
society  having  joined  in  the  celebration  at  Lebanon,  it 
seemed  appropriate  that  the  historical  portion  of  this  work 
should  be  submitted  to  its  criticism  before  publication,  in 
order  to  avail  of  the  authority  which  such  criticism  can  give 
to  any  work  of  the  kind.  j.  t. 


LEBANON  AND  THE  WAR  OFFICE. 


ALTHOUGH  Lebanon  appears  to  have  been  exceeded 
in  population  by  thirteen  of  the  seventy-six  towns 
enumerated  in  the  census  of  1 774,  the  excess  was,  in  most 
cases,  slight,  and  the  population,  3,960,  is,  by  no  means, 
an  adequate  measure  of  the  importance  of  the  town  in 
the  days  of  the  Revolution.  In  the  grand  list  of  1775, 
but  ten  towns  showed  a  higher  valuation  of  taxable 
property.  But  most  significant  of  all  is  the  fact  that,  in 
the  awards  for  services  in  the  Lexington  Alarm,  but  two 
towns  in  the  vState,  Windham  and  Woodstock,  were 
granted  larger  sums  of  money  as  their  compensation. 

The  reasons  for  a  service  so  largely  in  excess  of  any 
quota  which  Lebanon  might  have  been  called  upon  to 
furnish  at  this  time  seem  evident.  Here  were  the  resi- 
dence and  home  office  of  the  only  colonial  governor  who 
asserted  the  rights  of  his  country  as  opposed  to  the 
oppressive  measures  of  his  king,  which  very  fact  must 
have  given  to  that  all-potent  assemblage  of  the  day,  the 
town  meeting,  an  inspiration  and  force  which  it  might 
otherwise  have  lacked.  Owing  to  the  location  of  the 
town  and  the  fact  that  the  governor  resided  there,  Leba- 
non must  have  been  the  place  where  the  news  from  Bos- 
ton was  usually  received  in  the  exciting  times  which  led 
up  to  the  Revolution. 

The  limits  of  this  publication  prevent  us  from  making 
extracts  from  the  town  records  of  these  days,  especially 
in  the  time  of  the  non-importation  agreements,  the  Port 
Bill,  and  the  Boston  massacre,  records  of  proceedings  and 
measures  echoed  and  duplicated,  no  doubt,  in  many 
another   Connecticut   town,   but   peculiarly   inspired    in 


Lebanon  —  seeming  to-day  almost  ludicrously  fervent  in 
their  expressions  of  "  afifectionate  loyalty  to  his  excellent 
Majesty,"  the  acts  of  whose  parliament  they  denounce  in 
the  most  uncompromising  terms.  Such  expressions  of 
loyalty  should  not,  however,  be  taken  as  a  hypocritical 
cloak  for  the  subsequent  revolt,  but  rather  as  a  bona  fide 
endeavor  to  obtain  rights  which,  had  they  been  granted 
at  the  time,  might  have  caused  quite  a  difference  in  our 
present  form  of  government. 

In  this  atmosphere  and  on  this  soil  of  patriotism  stood 
the  humble  little  gambrel-roofed  building  which  was  the 
home  office  of  the  ( lovernor ;  some  rods  from  its  present 
site,  and  facing  the  Colchester  road  near  the  northwest 
corner  of  its  junction  with  Town  street.  It  is  impossible 
to  determine  the  exact  age  of  this  building.  It  may  have 
been,  and  probably  was,  the  store  of  Governor  Trumbull's 
father  in  1732,  the  date  which  marks  the  beginning  of 
the  son's  mercantile  career;  and  it  is  more  or  less 
intimately  connected  with  that  career  to  the  time  of  his 
failure  in  1 766  or  thereabouts. 

Owing  to  the  public  offices  which  Trumbull  held  dur- 
ing this  period  of  thirty-four  years,  it  is  safe  to  assume 
that  much  business  of  a  public  as  well  as  private 
character  was  transacted  within  this  building  during  this 
time.  Its  importance  in  the  history  of  our  State  and 
country  begins  more  particularly  with  the  year  1769, 
when,  at  the  death  of  Governor  Pitkin,  Trumbull  was 
elected  as  his  successor,  taking  up,  among  other  things, 
the  important  correspondence  with  William  vSamuel 
Johnson,  who  was  then  in  England  undertaking  the  settle- 
ment and  management  of  the  celebrated  jMohegan  case. 
The  Mohegan  case,  however,  sinks  into  insignificance 
during  the  time  of  Johnson's  embassy ;  for  while  it  was 
dragging  its  tedious  course  through  the  British  tribunals 
from  1767  to  June  11,  1771,  the  riots  in  Boston  and  the 
non-importation  agreements  of  the  colonics  were  leading 
to  hot  di.scussions  and  oppressive  legislation  in  the  British 
Parliament,  which  at  last  led  to  our  independence  in  the 


war  of  the  Revolution.  Johnson  faithfully  attended 
these  sessions  of  Parliament  while  patiently  waiting  the 
final  issue  of  the  Mohegan  case.  His  letters  to  Govern- 
ors Pitkin  and  Trumbull  during  this  time  show  that  he 
was  then  intelligently  watching,  and,  so  far  as  he  could, 
influencing  the  action  of  Parliament  in  its  all-important 
measures  concerning  the  American  Colonies.  The  let- 
ters of  Trumbull  to  Johnson  at  this  critical  time  are,  with 
one  exception,  dated  at  Lebanon,  and  hardly  could  have 
been  written  elsewhere  than  in  the  private  apartment  of 
this  little  building  where  the  writer  had  been  accustomed 
to  transact  his  business  for  some  thirty  years. 

The  interval  from  1769  to  1775  is  one  in  which  much 
business  of  vital  importance  must  have  been  transacted 
at  the  (Tovernor's  home  office.  The  history  of  all  that 
may  have  taken  place  there,  beyond  the  correspondence 
just  mentioned  and  the  discussions  to  which  this  corre- 
spondence must  have  led,  can  only  be  supplied  by  con- 
jecture. Lying,  as  Lebanon  lay  at  the  time,  on  the 
direct  road  to  Boston,  it  is  certain,  as  has  been  said,  that, 
during  this  interval,  many  important  despatches  were  re- 
ceived at  this  office,  and  that  much  serious  and  earnest 
counsel  was  held  there  regarding  the  alarming  state  of 
public  affairs. 

Soon  after  the  Lexington  Alarm,  it  became  evident 
that  the  General  Assembly  must  delegate  its  powers  to 
provide  for  the  sudden  and  imperative  daily  needs  of  the 
time.  The  following  act  was  therefore  passed  at  the 
May  session  of  1775  : 

"  This  Assembly  do  appoint  the  Hon'''"  Mathew  Gris- 
wold  Esq"",  and  the  Hon'''"^  Eliphalet  Dyer,  Jabez  Hunting- 
ton, and  Samuel  Huntington  Esq",  William  Williams, 
Nathaniel  Wales  jun',  Jedidiah  Elderkin,  Joshua  West, 
and  Benjamin  Huntington  Esq",  a  Committee  to  assist 
his  Honor  the  Governor  when  the  Assembly  is  not  sit- 
ting, to  order  and  direct  the  marches  and  stations  of  the 
inhabitants  inlisted  and  assembled  for  the  special  defence 
of  the  Colony,  or  any  part  or  parts  of  them,  as  they  shall 


8 

judge  necessary,  and  to  give  order  from  time  to  time  for 
furnishing  and  supplying  said  inhabitants  with  every 
matter  and  thing  that  may  be  needful  to  render  the  de- 
fence of  the  Colony  effectual." 

It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that  this  act  contemplated 
that  the  meetings  of  the  committee  should  be  held  at 
Lebanon,  three  of  its  members  besides  the  Governor  be- 
ing residents  of  that  town,  and  the  other  members,  with 
the  exception  of  Deputy-Governor  Griswold,  being  resi- 
dents of  the  then  adjoining  towns  of  Norwich  and  Wind- 
ham. This  committee  was  kept  in  existence,  by  renewed 
acts  of  the  General  Assembly,  during  the  entire  war,  with 
such  extension  of  its  powers  and  changes  in  its  member- 
ship as  appeared  to  be  required.  It  soon  became  known 
as  a  council  instead  of  a  committee,  being  so  named  in 
the  records  of  the  General  Assembly,  as  well  as  in  the 
journal  of  its  proceedings  under  its  appointment  by  that 
body.  This  journal,  with  the  exception  of  the  record  of 
a  very  few  meetings,  is  complete  to  November,  1783,  the 
original  being  in  the  custody  of  the  State.  The  complete 
text  of  this  journal  is  only  printed  to  October,  1776,  in 
the  valuable  Colonial  Records,  edited  by  Dr.  Charles  J. 
Hoadly. 

A  review  of  the  number  of  meetings  of  the  Council  of 
Safety,  of  which  abstracts  were  published  by  Hinman, 
has  led  the  late  Mr.  Nathaniel  H.  Morgan  to  the  estimate 
that,  of  the  whole  number  of  meetings  during  the  war, 
some  1.200  in  all,  1,145  were  held  in  the  War  Office  at 
Lebanon. 

Of  the  proceedings  at  these  meetings,  it  is,  of  course, 
impossible  to  give  an  adequate  idea  in  this  connection. 
The  members  of  the  Council  of  Safety  may,  perhaps, 
appropriately  be  called  the  minute-men  of  the  General 
Assembly.  Not  only  were  they  ready  at  all  times  for  the 
arduous  and  important  duties  imposed  upon  them  ;  but 
the.se  duties  made  continual  demands  upon  their  time 
and  energies.  In  the  momentous  month  of  July,  1776, 
eighteen  meetings  were  held  at  Lebanon,  and  in  the  fol- 


lowing  month,  sixteen,  one  of  wliicli  was  held  on  Sunday. 
The  records  of  the  Council  tell,  among-  other  things,  of 
the  raising  of  troops,  their  apportionment  to  different 
fields  of  service,  the  fitting  out  of  war  vessels,  the  pur- 
chase and  despatch  of  provisions  and  munitions  of  war, 
and  the  disposal  of  prisoners.  Many  of  the  distinguished 
officers  of  the  time  were  present  at  these  meetings  or  in 
private  interviews  with  the  Governor  and  members  of 
his  Council.  The  well-worn  oaken  floor  of  the  War 
Office  has  doubtless  been  trodden  by  Washington,  Sulli- 
van, Knox,  Parsons,  Spencer,  and  by  many  of  the  officers 
among  our  French  allies  who  were  cantoned  at  Lebanon, 
or  camped  there  on  their  marches  during  the  years  1 780 
and  1 78 1.  Among  these  French  officers  may  be  men- 
tioned Lafayette,  Rochambeau,  and  the  Duke  de  Lauzun. 
The  many  sudden  and  urgent  calls  of  Washington  for 
men,  money,  and  materials  in  the  dark  days  of  the  Revo- 
lution were  m.et  in  the  old  War  Office  with  that  prompt- 
ness and  adequacy  which  have  given  to  our  common- 
wealth the  historical  title  of  the  Provision  State. 

With  the  close  of  the  Revolution  in  the  victory  of  our 
arms  came  the  close  of  the  public  career  of  Connecticut's 
war  Governor  and  his  War  Office.  The  Governor  saw 
the  victory  for  which  he  had  toiled  and  hoped  and  prayed, 
vsaw  with  it  the  completion  of  his  life-work,  and  resigned 
his  office  to  younger  and  less  tired  hands.  After  a  time, 
the  War  Office  passed  into  other  ownerships.  Removed  a 
little  from  its  original  site,  it  filled,  for  a  time,  the  modest 
function  of  a  country  store,  and  is  still  remembered  as 
filling  this  function  by  some  of  the  older  inhabitants  of 
Lebanon.  Under  another  change  of  ownership,  it  was 
again  removed  to  its  present  site,  where,  for  a  time,  it 
was  used  as  a  dwelling-house  ;  until  at  last  it  appeared  to 
have  outlived  its  usefulness.  But  during  all  this  time  its 
history  was  not  forgotten.  It  was  always  known  as  the 
"  War  Office,"  and  local  tradition  as  well  as  written 
history  told  the  story  of  the  building.  Whenever  the 
occasional  newspaper  correspondent  visited  Lebanon,  the 


lO 

building-  and  its  history  were  made  the  usually  unfortu- 
nate victims  of  his  pen.  The  varied  and  variously  at- 
tired accounts  of  the  building  and  its  surroundings  which 
have  appeared  in  the  metropolitan  journals  would  form  a 
little  literature  on  the  subject  rather  more  amusing, 
and  sometimes  more  provoking  than  accurate.  Even 
romance  has  hovered  about  the  old  building  in  the  story 
of  Mistress  Prudence  Strong,  printed  some  twenty  years 
ago  in  the  New  York  Sun,  and  largely  copied  by  other 
papers  of  lesser  note.  The  heroine  appears  to  have  been 
a  mythical  personage  unknown  to  the  town  records  or 
the  families  of  Lebanon ;  while  the  hero,  whose  name 
may  or  may  not  be  correctly  given,  was  a  French  soldier, 
who,  for  some  trifling  lapse  in  duty,  was  sentenced  by  a 
court-martial  to  be  shot  as  a  deserter.  The  romance  tells 
how  Mistress  Prudence  Strong  procured  his  pardon  at 
the  War  Office  from  Rochambeau,  how  the  pardon  was 
entrusted  to  a  sentry  for  delivery,  and  delivered  too  late. 
A  French  soldier  of  Lauzun's  legion  was  certainly  shot  as 
a  deserter  at  Lebanon  ;  but  beyond  this  fact,  the  romance 
of  ]\Iistress  Prudence  Strong  appears  to  be  romance,  pure 
and  simple. 

During  the  ownership  of  Mrs.  Bethiah  H.  Wattles,  an 
attempt  was  made  towards  the  repair,  restoration,  and 
custody  of  the  War  Office  by  the  town,  at  the  desire  of 
its  owner.  The  failure  of  this  attempt  reflects  no  dis- 
credit upon  the  people  of  Lebanon  as  a  community,  but 
goes  to  show,  in  a  general  way,  that  the  town  meeting  of 
the  present  day  is  not  the  town  meeting  of  the  days  of 
the  Revolution,  and  usually  yields  surprises  to  the  class 
of  citizens  composing  the  best  and  most  broadly  patriotic 
portion  of  the  communit}'  who  are  absent  from  gather- 
ings of  the  kind,  or  unprepared  for  the  methods  of  oppo- 
sition which  they  have  to  encounter.  Probably  for  this 
reason,  it  is  impossible,  after  considerable  search,  to  find 
a  ca.se  in  which  the  preservation  of  a  building  of  such 
historical  interest,  involving  considerable  expense  and 
continual  care,  has  ever  been  undertaken  by  a  town  or  a 


'% 


'm 


II 

small  local  organization.  The  proper  custodian,  unless  it 
be  the  State  itself,  is  an  organization  of  the  State  at 
large,  whose  scope  and  purposes  contemplate  work  of 
this  kind.  Such  an  organization,  the  Connecticut  Society 
of  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  had  grown  to  be  in 
the  winter  of  1890-91,  at  which  time  Mr.  Frank  Farns- 
worth  Starr  was  appointed  by  the  society's  board  of 
managers  to  visit  Lebanon,  and  make  such  arrangements 
as  could  be  made  for  the  preservation  of  the  War  Office. 
His  explanation  of  the  nature  of  the  organization  he 
represented  and  of  the  object  of  his  visit  resulted  in  the 
prompt  execution  of  a  deed  of  gift  of  the  building,  and  a 
suitable  portion  of  the  land  upon  which  it  is  located,  to 
the  society  by  Mrs.  Wattles,  the  owner,  a  lady  ninety-one 
years  of  age,  who,  with  the  relatives  composing  her 
household,  had  long  cherished  the  design  of  placing  the 
building  beyond  the  danger  of  destruction.  The  sole 
condition  of  the  deed  was  that  the  building  should  be 
properly  repaired,  and  kept  in  repair  in  the  future.  This 
condition  the  society  gladly  and  gratefully  accepted,  and 
appointed  its  president  to  investigate  the  condition  of  the 
building,  and,  subsequently,  to  arrange  for  and  superin- 
tend the  necessary  repairs  and  restorations.  The  oak 
framework,  with  the  exception  of  the  sills,  was  found  to 
be  in  a  good  state  of  preservation.  Traces  of  the  origi- 
nal partitions,  windows,  and  doors  were  also  found  to  be 
so  plainly  marked  that  the  restoration  could  really  be 
made  complete.  The  work  was  commenced  early  in 
May,  by  Mr.  Charles  Morgan  Williams  of  Norwich,  who 
planned  and  carried  out  the  entire  undertaking. 

A  completely  new  stone  foundation  was  laid  under 
the  building,  the  decayed  sills  were  replaced  by  new  tim- 
ber, the  sides  and  roof  were  newly  shingled,  the  original 
partitions,  doors,  and  windows  were  restored,  and  an  en- 
tirely new  chimney  of  the  colonial  type  was  substituted 
for  the  very  small  one  which  had  evidently  been  placed 
in  the  building  as  a  substitute  for  the  original  chimney. 
Old-fashioned  stone  fire-places  form  a  marked  feature  of 


12 

the  restored  chimney.  These  fire-places  were  procured 
by  Mr.  Williams,  with  some  difficulty,  from  buildings  in 
Lebanon  which  had  either  fallen  down  from  their  age,  or 
had  outlived  their  usefulness.  Andirons  made  by  a 
Lebanon  blacksmith  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution  were 
presented  by  i\Iiss  Dutton,  forming,  with  the  old  iron 
cranes,  a  complete  outfit  for  these  important  features  of 
the  interior. 

In  the  romance  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  it 
is  intimated  that  certain  documents  of  importance  were 
concealed  by  Mistress  Prudence  Strong  within  the  walls 
of  the  building.  While  the  story  was  known  to  be  a 
romance,  this  intimation  served,  at  least,  as  a  reminder 
that  it  would  be  well  to  make  a  careful  search  for  relics 
wherever  opportunity  offered.  This  search  was,  at  first, 
rewarded  only  by  the  finding  of  fragments  of  papers 
among  the  solid  mass  of  oat-husks,  nutshells,  rags,  and 
other  materials  which,  at  unknown  times  during  the  past 
century,  had  formed  the  nests  of  rats  and  squirrels  under 
the  upper  flooring.  These  fragments  were  as  interesting 
in  their  indications  as  they  were  provoking  in  their  in- 
completeness. They  appeared  to  be  scraps  of  old  muster- 
rolls,  with  here  and  there  a  complete  name,  fragments  of 
old  newspapers,  and  bits  of  correspondence,  one  of  which, 
in  the  Governor's  handwriting,  reads  thus : 


-  y'-».  ..•  _ . 


13 

Two  days  before  the  date  of  this  fragment,  Governor 
William  Franklin  of  New  Jersey  had  been  sent  to  the 
care  of  Governor  Trumbull,  as  a  prisoner,  and  had  asked 
to  be  paroled  in  New  Jersey.  Possibly  this  fragment 
was  a  part  of  the  correspondence  regarding  Franklin's 
parole. 

About  a  week  after  the  discovery  of  these  fragments, 
some  papers  were  found  in  a  wonderfully  good  state  of 
preservation,  considering  the  fact  that  the  rats  and 
squirrels  had  been  their  custodians  for,  perhaps,  a  cen- 
tury. The  following  is  a  list  of  the  most  important 
of  these  papers : 

Bond  of  Noah  Dewey,  Jan.  8,  1740,  to  "the  Governor 
and  Company  of  the  English  Colony  of  Connecticutt  "  for 
the  sum  of  eighteen  shillings. 

Letter  of  John  Ledyard,  Hartford,  "  to  Col".  Jona 
Trumble,  merchant,  at  Lebanon,"  Nov.  20,  1762. 

Official  census-return  of  the  "  Town  of  Glassenbury  on 
the  first  of  January,  1774." 

Letter  of  R.  Isaacs,  New  Haven,  "  to  his  Excelency 
Gov'.  Franklin  at  Middletown,"  Aug.  7,  1776. 

Petition  of  Ens.  Joseph  Moland,  Nov.  25,  1776,  asking 
the  Governor  for  release  from  imprisonment. 

Attested  copy  of  vote  of  a  town  meeting  at  New 
Haven,  December  9,  1776,  asking  for  small  arms,  field- 
pieces,  etc.,  for  the  defense  of  the  town. 

Full  Q.Q>Y^  oi''  Frecmaiis  Journar''  Numb,  i,  April  25, 
1781. 

The  interest  in  these  papers  is,  of  course,  heightened 
by  the  singular  circumstances  under  which  they  were 
discovered.  They  M^ere,  perhaps,  mislaid,  some  of  them 
being  regarded  as  unimportant  at  the  time  ;  yet  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  conceive  how  certain  papers  covering  a  range  of 
forty-one  years,  received  at  this  office  at  various  times 
during  that  period,  should  have  been  stowed  away  in  one 
place  in  the  building.  Perhaps  when  the  Governor  was 
selecting  matter  among  his  papers,  as  he  did  at  one  time, 
for  the  use  of  future  historians,  these  documents  were  dis- 


14 

carded  by  him  as  unnecessary  in  the  valuable  collection 
which  his  son  David  presented,  in  1795,  to  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society.*  Being  so  discarded,  the  rats 
probably  took  possession  of  them,  and  laid  them  by  for 
future  use  as  building  material  of  their  own.  But  had  the 
rats  been  infected  with  the  same  regard  for  the  chronicler 
of  the  future  which  actuated  the  Governor  at  the  time,  they 
hardly  could  have  made  a  more  appropriate  selection  for 
the  purpose  of  confirming  the  outline  already  given  of 
the  history  of  the  building  during  the  most  important 
period  of  its  existence. 

The  bond  of  Noah  Dewey  carries  us  back  to  the  year 
1 740,  when  Trumbull,  then  a  man  of  thirty,  occupied  the 
position  of  "  Assistant "  in  the  General  Assembly,  and 
was  at  the  same  time  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits. 
This  bond  pertained  to  the  business  of  the  State,  and  was 
witnessed  and  perhaps  procured  by  Trumbull,  who,  it 
should  be  remembered,  spelled  his  name  Trumble  up  to 
the  year  1766,  when  his  son's  researches  in  the  Herald's 
office  caused  him  to  adopt  the  present  spelling.  The 
letter  of  John  Ledyard  relates  entirely  to  matters  of  per- 
sonal business  at  a  time  when  Ledyard  was  a  partner  in 
the  business  then  carried  on. 

A  fragment  of  a  newspaper,  not  mentioned  in  the 
above  list,  is  probably  of  the  date  of  1763,  and  shows  that 
the  news  of  that  important  time  was  read  and  discussed 
in  the  War  Office. 

The  three  papers  bearing  the  date  1776  relate, 
evidently,  to  business  of  the  Council  of  Safety ;  and,  as 
they  refer  to  a  time  every  moment  and  circumstance  of 
which  is  interesting  to  the  historian  and  to  the  patriot, 
we  reproduce,  first  for  its  quaintness,  and  for  the  reason 
that  its  .story  has  been  already  told  in  the  publications  of 
the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  the  petition  of 
Ensign  Joseph  Moland. 

*  See  Appendix  p.  88. 


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15 

From  researches  made  by  Mr.  Jonathan  F.  Morris  of 
Hartford,  it  appears  that  this  Ensign  Moland  was  one  of 
the  officers  of  the  Seventy-sixth  regiment,  captured 
at  Ticonderoga  May  lo,  1775,  and  brought  to  Hartford, 
where  he  was  paroled  in  company  with  his  fellow 
officers,  Major  Skene,  Captain  Delaplace,  and  Ensign 
Rotton. 

From  the  diary  of  Major  French,  who  was  also  among 
the  numerous  prisoners  under  parole  at  Hartford  at  the 
time  this  letter  was  written,  it  appears  that  there  were 
continual  demonstrations  of  enmity  on  the  part  of  the 
people  of  Hartford  against  these  prisoners,  which  demon- 
strations may  have  had  something  to  do  with  Aloland's 
attitude  towards  his  landlord.  The  diary  of  Alajor 
French  from  January  i  to  September  13,  1776,  is  printed 
in  full  in  Vol.  I  of  the  Collections  of  the  Connecticut 
Historical  Society.  The  story  of  Moland's  unfortunate 
collision  with  the  chair,  and  subsequently  with  his  land- 
lord and  landlady,  is  quite  feelingly  told  in  this  diary, 
under  date  of  August  19,  1776,  with  comments  by  the 
writer  regarding  the  summary  proceedings  by  which 
Moland  was  consigned  to  "  durance  vile." 

In  company  with  Major  French  and  three  others, 
Moland  made  his  escape  from  "goal"  on  the  15th  of 
November,  i  'j']6,  but  was  captured  with  his  comrades  at 
Branford  and  again  imprisoned.  French,  Moland,  and 
one  other  made  their  final  escape  December  27,  1776, 
after  which  time,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  name 
of  Ensign  Joseph  Moland  is  unknown  to  history.  The 
journal  of  the  Council  of  Safety  makes  no  mention  of  his 
petition  for  release.  The  date  of  this  petition  is  re- 
moved from  the  original,  but  the  paper  is  docketed 
November  25,  1776,  which,  as  it  seems,  was  ten  days 
after  his  first  escape,  which  was  probably  known  to 
the  Council  of  Safety  at  the  time.  The  name  of  Moland 
appears,  however,"  in  the  journal  of  this  body  at  an 
earlier  date,  at  which  time,  upon  his  arrival  at  Hartford, 


i6 

his  petition   to  be  paroled  in  company  with  his  fellow 
prisoners  was  granted. 

Another  of  these  letters  which  requires  more  than 
a  passing  glance,  and  is  interesting  on  account  of  the 
history  of  the  person  to  whom  it  is  addressed,  and  of  the 
person  by  whom  it  was  written,  is  the  letter  directed 

"To 

"His  Excelency  Govr  Franklin 

att 
"  Per  ^liddletown. 

"  Mr.  J.  Perit." 

Governor  Franklin  of  New  Jersey,  to  whom  this  letter 
is  addressed,  is  so  well  known  to  history  that  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  give  more  than  a  reminding  sketch  of 
his  career  at  the  time  this  letter  was  written.  Unlike 
his  patriotic  sire,  the  illustrious  Benjamin  Franklin,  he  is 
described  in  the  journal  of  the  Council  of  Safety  as 
"  a  virulent  enemy  to  this  country."  He  arrived  at 
Lebanon  on  the  4th  of  July,  1 776,  under  guard,  having 
been  consigned  by  the  authorities  of  New  Jersey  to 
the  care  of  Governor  Trumbull,  with  the  request 
that  he  be  paroled  as  a  prisoner.  After  a  discus- 
sion in  which  it  is  said  Franklin's  language  and  de- 
meanor were  by  no  means  suited  to  the  temper  of 
the  Governor  and  his  Council,  he  was  paroled  at  Wal- 
lingford,  and  about  two  weeks  later  at  Middletown, 
where,  no  doubt,  he  received  the  letter  from  Mr.  Isaacs. 
On  the  30th  of  April,  1777,  orders  were  received  from 
Congress  to  place  Franklin  in  close  confinement  without 
access  to  writing  materials.  He  was,  accordingly,  sent 
to  Litchfield  jail.  It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say 
when  and  how  this  letter  of  Isaacs  came  into  possession 
of  the  Council  of  »Safety.  Although  it  is  most  natural  to 
infer  that  it  was  found  among  Franklin's  effects  at 
the  time  of  his  imprisonment,  still,  from  what  happened 
to  the  writer  soon  after  the  letter  reached  its  destination, 
it  may  have  been  intercepted  and  seized  at  about 
that  time. 


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17 

It  appears  that  the  writer,  Ralph  Isaacs,  was  by  no 
means  exempt  from  the  inevitable  lot  of  tories,  or  sus- 
pected tories,  in  our  State  at  this  time.  September  27, 
1776,  upon  a  memorial  of  some  citizens  of  New  Haven,  the 
Council  of  Safety  directed  that  this  Isaacs  and  some  other 
suspected  persons  be  cited  to  appear  before  the  General 
Assembly  at  its  coming  session  in  October,  to  make 
answer  to  the  charges  against  them.  At  the  hearing,  it 
appeared  that  "  Mr.  Isaacs  had  been  frequently  at  Gov. 
Brown's*  quarters,  and  seemed  to  be  pleased  in  the 
company  of  Tories,"  that  he  had  made  derogatory 
remarks  regarding  the  conduct  of  the  Continental 
troops  at  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  and  that  he  had  sent 
some  fine  blackfish  to  Governor  Brown  at  Middletown. 

Isaacs  and  Capt.  Abiather  Camp  w^ere  found  guilty  of 
the  charges  laid  against  them,  and  were  removed  to  the 
Society  of  Eastbury  in  Glastenbury,  there  to  remain 
under  careful  surveillance  and  restrictions.  Dec.  1 1 , 
1776,  the  Council  of  Safety  allowed  Isaacs,  upon  his  peti- 
tion, to  be  removed  to  more  commodious  quarters  in 
Durham,  owing  to  his  ill  health.  During  the  following 
January,  a  complaint  was  sent  to  the  Council  of  Safety 
by  the  committee  of  inspection  for  the  town  of  Durham, 
stating  that  Isaacs  was  a  dangerous  person  to  be  at  large 
and  to  retail  rum,  whereupon  further  restrictions  were 
laid  upon  him  by  the  Council,  which  body  ordered 
that  his  rum  be  seized  and  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the 
State.  At  various  other  times  the  name  of  Isaacs  ap- 
pears as  a  petitioner  to  the  General  Assembly.  At  the 
October  session  of  1777,  he  was  allowed  to  appear  in 
courts  where  he  had  action  depending  for  trial,  upon 
condition  of  taking  the  oath  of  fidelity.  At  last,  his 
checkered  career  as  a  tory  prisoner  in  various  towns  of 
the  State  ended  in  his  release  by  the  General  Assembly 
at  its  special  session  in  January,  1778,  on  which  occasion 


*  Governor  Montford  Brown  of  New  Providence,  Bahama  Islands,  captured 
at  the  taking  of  tlie  island  and  sent  to  Connecticut  as  a  prisoner  of  war. 


he  showed  that  he  had  taken  the  oath  of  fidelity,  and 
that  he  had  done  and  should  continue  to  do  much  to  aid 
the  cause  of  the  United  States. 

Although  the  journal  of  the  Council  of  Safety  makes 
no  mention  of  the  letter  which  Isaacs  wrote  Gov.  Frank- 
lin in  Augiist,  1776,  and  although  this  letter  was  so 
neglected  that  it  repo.sed  peacefully  in  the  old  War 
Office  for  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  quite  keenly  perused  by  the 
Council  of  Safety  at  the  time  of  its  receipt,  and  that  it 
may  have  had  more  to  do  with  the  trials  and  tribulations 
of  Ralph  Isaacs  than  we  are  now  able  to  prove.  What 
may  have  been  the  effect  of  reading  the  title  "  His  Ex- 
celency,"  even  though  it  was  spelled  with  one  1,  as  ap- 
plied to  a  tory  governor,  it  is  difficult  to  say.  When  we 
imagine  the  punctilious  Huntingtons  and  others  of  the 
council  discussing  this  point  at  a  time  when  His  Honor 
was  a  sufficient  title  for  their  own  patriot  governor,  we 
must  imagine  that  their  righteous  indignation  found 
vent  in  a  way  by  no  means  agreeable  to  Mr.  Isaacs.''^ 

Of  the  other  papers  discovered  in  the  War  Office,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  mention  the  petition  of  the  town  meet- 
ing of  New  Haven,  Dec.  9,  1776,  asking  for  arms  and  for 
the  adoption  of  measures  for  the  defense  of  the  town. 
Although  this  petition  is  not  specifically  mentioned  in  the 
journal  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  that  body  appears  to 
have  had  it  under  consideration  at  its  meeting  four  days 
after  the  date  of  the  petition,  at  which  meeting  it  was 
voted  that  six  field  pieces  captured  from  the  Minerva  be 
fitted  with  carriages  for  the  use  of  New  Haven,  and  that 
the  militia  under  Col.  Thompson  be  thoroughly  or- 
ganized for  the  defense  of  that  town. 

The  process  of  reading  between  the  lines  in  a  state- 
ment of  plain  facts  and  tedious  routine  like  the  journal 
of  the  Council  of  Safety  is  a  dangerous  and  often  mis- 
leading process;   yet,  if  the  patient  and  scientific  his- 

*  The  title  His  Excellency  was  adopted  in  the  following  year,  1777,  as  the 
title  of  the  Governor  of  Connecticut,  by  act  of  the  General  Assembly. 


19 

torian  of  to-day  should  apply  it  to  this  journal,  he  would, 
no  doubt,  be  able  to  make  a  volume  or  two  which,  while 
it  would  form  a  lasting  and  fitting  tribute  to  the  old  War 
Office,  would  also  throw  much  new  light  upon  the  history 
of  our  State  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  valuable  Colonial  Records  already  printed 
will  be  followed  by  the  publication  of  the  entire  journal 
of  the  General  Assembly  and  Council  of  Safety,  as  a  con- 
tinuation of  this  work. 

A  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  Lebanon  War  Office 
has  now  commenced,  and  has  been  celebrated  by  the 
Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  and  by  the  Connecti- 
cut Historical  Society  in  a  way  that  appears  to  make  it 
worthy  of  a  carefully  printed  report,  to  w^hich  the  re- 
mainder of  this  publication  is  devoted. 


THE   CELEBRATION 

OF    THE 

Restoration  of  the  War  Office. 


AT  its  annual  meeting,  May  ii,  1891,  the  Connecticut 
Society  of  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  voted 
that  a  celebration  should  be  held  at  Lebanon,  to  com- 
memorate the  completion  of  the  repairs  and  restoration 
of  the  War  Office,  and  to  re-dedicate  the  building  to 
public  uses.  The  anniversary  of  the  adoption  of  our 
National  Flag  was  selected  for  this  purpose,  with  a  view 
to  establishing  an  observance  of  the  day,  for  which  the 
society  has  adopted  the  title  of  Flag-  Day.  As  the  anni- 
versary fell  on  Sunday  of  this  year,  it  was  found  neces- 
sary to  hold  the  celebration  on  the  following  JMonday, 
June  15th.  The  Connecticut  Historical  Society  was  in- 
vited to  join  in  this  celebration  ;  and  accordingly  selected 
the  day  as  its  annual  "  field  day,"  for  that  purpose. 

On  the  part  of  the  Society  of  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
the  following  committees  of  Norwich  members  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  president  to  complete  the  arrangements 
for  the  celebration : 

General  Coviniittee — ^Ir.  Adams  P.  Carroll,  Chairman  ; 
Mr.  Burrell  W.  Hyde,  Secretary ;  Dr.  Leonard  B.  Almy, 
Major  B.  P.  Learned,  Messrs.  Charles  R.  Butts,  George 
C.  Raymond,  and  J.  L.  W,  Huntington. 

On  Programme  —  Hon.  Jeremiah  Halsey,  Chairman; 
Dr.  Robert  P.  Keep  and  Mr.  Frank  J.  Leavens. 

The  general  committee  at  once  sent  two  of  its  mem- 
bers with  the  president  of  the  society  to  arrange  with  the 


21 

residents  of  Lebanon  the  details  of  the  celebration. 
They  were  most  eordially  met  by  a  number  of  Lebanon's 
leading  citizens,  in  consultation  with  whom  plans  were 
arranged  for  the  leading  features  of  the  occasion.  They 
insisted  upon  offering  to  the  two  societies  and  their 
guests  an  ample  collation,  and  made  many  valuable  sug- 
gestions regarding  the  general  arrangements.  The 
spirit  of  the  people  of  Lebanon  regarding  the  proposed 
celebration  is,  perhaps,  best  illustrated  by  a  remark  made 
by  one  of  their  number.  It  was  suggested  that  some  of 
the  residents  who  might  be  called  upon  to  assist  in  the 
arrangements  might  not  be  able  to  give  up  the  time 
which  it  would  be  necessary  to  devote  to  the  work  on 
the  day ;  to  which  the  repty  came  in  no  uncertain  tones  : 
"  If  an}^  man  in  Lebanon  cannot  give  up  the  day  to  this 
celebration,  the  town  has  no  use  for  him."  The  residents 
at  once  took  up  the  work  which  devolved  upon  them, 
placing  it  in  charge  of  the  following  committees,  ap- 
pointed at  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Lebanon,  held  in 
the  Town  Hall,  May  30,  1891. 

Chairman,  Hon.  J.  C.  Crandall. 
Secretary  and  Treasurer,  N.  C.  Barker. 

Committees. 

To  deliver  Keys  of  the  War  Office  to  the  Society  of  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution  —  Hon.  N.  B.  Williams. 

On  Transportation  from  Chestnut  Hill  Station  —  John 
H.  Avery,  John  S.  King,  W.  B.  Loomis. 

On  Transportation  from  NortJi  Franklin  Station  — 
Frank  K.  Noyes,  Edgar  J.  Tucker,  Charles  J.  Abell. 

On    Traiisportation  from    Willimantic  —  W.  F.  Gates. 

On  Care  of  Teams —K.  R.  Post,  Clark  Standish,  L.  P. 
Smith,  Charles  Sweet,  Jr. 

Building  Platform  and  Tables  —  A.  R.  Post,  W.  A. 
Wetmore,  C.  L.  Pitcher,  C.  Sweet,  Jr.,  E.  W.  Hewitt, 
Sands  Throop. 

Dishes  —  Frank  P.  Fowler. 

To  Solicit  Funds  —  Frank  P.  Fowler,  South   Society  ; 


District  No.    i 


No. 


No.  3 

No.  4 

No.  5 

No.  6 

No.  7 

No.  8 
No.  9 
No.  lo 

No.  II 

No.  12 

No.  13 

No.  14 

No.  15 

No.  16 


Erastus  Geer,  Goshen  Society  ;  George  A.  Mills,  Exeter 
Society ;  W.  F.  Gates,  North  Society. 
To  Solicit  Refreshments : 

)  Mrs.  W.  F.  Gates. 
(  Mrs.  Edward  Moffitt. 

Mrs.  Charles  Robinson. 

Mrs.  R.  P.  Burgess. 

Miss  Annie  E.  Briggs. 

Miss  Cecil  Browning. 

Mrs.  John  Clark. 

Mrs.  Henry  Clark. 

Miss  Hattie  J.  Manley. 

Mrs.  John  H.  Avery. 

Miss  Helen  O.  Prindle. 

Miss  Hattie  E.  Hewitt. 

Mrs.  F.  K.  Noyes. 

Mrs.  G.  W.  Lyman. 
j  Mrs.  Phebe  C.  Irish. 
(  Miss  Minnie  Hoxie. 

Mrs.  Andrew  Waterman. 

Mrs.  Charles  Winchester. 

Mrs.  William  W.  Gillett. 
\  Mrs.  Erastus  Geer. 
I  Mrs.  Charles  Taylor. 
j  Miss  Masey  E.  Stark. 
(  Mrs.  James  Y.  Thomas. 

Mrs.  A.  G.  Kneeland. 

Mrs.  L.  A.  Spaulding. 
\  Mrs.  George  A.  Mills. 
(  Mrs.  Myron  Abell. 
j  Mrs.  George  A.  Nye. 
(  Vlxs.  Frederick  J.  Brown. 
j  Mrs.  Edward  A.  Stiles. 
(  Miss  Waldcn. 


Coffee— I..  P.  Smith. 
To    Prepare    Tables  — 
Ellen  C.  Williams. 


Miss    Maria    F.   Barker,    Miss 


To  Set  Food  on  Tables,  Toivn  Hall —  Mrs.  H.  D.  vSteb- 
bins,  Mrs.  E.  A.  Stiles,  Mrs.  G.  A.  Mills,  Mrs.  G.  A.  Nye. 
Mrs.  C.  S.  Brig-gs,  i\Irs.  L.  H.  Randall,  Mrs.  Edward 
Gibbs,  Mrs.  James  Y.  Thomas,  j\Irs.  Wm.  Robinson. 
Mrs.  Hobart  McCall,  Mrs.  William  Ta3dor,  Mrs.  Nelson 
Taylor,  Miss  Louise  Robinson. 

At  Brick  Church  — Mrs,.  L.  P.  Loomis,  Mrs.  R.  P. 
Burgess,  Mrs.  W.  B.  Avery,  Mrs.  J.  H.  Avery,  Mrs.  C.  H. 
Peckham,  IMrs.  Nancy  E.  Pettis,  ]\Irs.  L.  L.  Lyman,  Miss 
S.  M.  Dolbeare. 

To  Hang  Flags  —  Joe  Stedman. 

The  society's  committee  on  programme  decided  upon 
the  following  order  of  exercises  : 


24 


Lebanon  War  Office  Celebration, 
FLAG  DAY,   1891. 


PROGRAM 

ll:.'iO  A.  M.  to  1  P.  M. 

Flag-raising  at  the  War  Office  and  at  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Wat- 
tles, its  donor,  which  was  the  Governor's  residence  during  the 
Revolution. 

Music. 

Address  bj^  Gen.  Josei'II  R.  Hawley. 

Reception  and  Loan  Exhibition  at  the  War  Office. 

1  P.  M. 

Dinner-call  by  Drum  Corps,  followed  by  Collation,  by  invitation,  to 
the  Connecticut  Society  of  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  ; 
the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  and  their  guests. 

2  P.  M. 

Assembly-call  by  the  Drum  Corps,  and  procession  to  the  War  Office 
and  Speakers'  stand. 
2:30  P.  M. 

Prayer  by  the  Rev.  Willia.m  DeLoss  Love. 

Presentation  of  tlic  War  Office  by  Mr.  Nathamf.i.  B.  Williams. 

Response  by  the  President  of  the  Society. 

Music. 

Poem  by  Mr.  TIlo^L\s  S.  Collier. 

Address  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard  W.  Bacon. 

Music,  "  America,"  sung  by  all. 

Addresses  by  invited  guests. 

Benediction. 


25 

Tubbs'  Military  Band  of  Norwich,  twenty-five  pieces, 
and  the  Nathan  Hale  Drum  Corps  of  South  Coventry, 
fourteen  pieces,  were  engaged  to  furnish  the  instru- 
mental music  of  the  programme. 

The  1 5th  of  June  was  a  cloudless  and  intensely  hot 
day.  The  early  trains  brought  to  Lebanon  a  throng  of 
members  of  the  Society  of  Sons  of  the  Revolution  and 
others,  who  were  readily  provided  with  transportation  to 
the  center  of  attraction,  the  War  Office,  some  three  miles 
from  the  nearest  railway  station.  On  the  road  the  old 
cemetery  was  passed,  containing  the  tomb  where  Gov- 
ernor Trumbull  and  other  members  of  his  family,  includ- 
ing his  son-in-law,  William  Williams,  a  signer  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  are  buried.  The  tomb  had 
been  recently  repaired  by  descendants  of  these  ancestors, 
and  was  decorated  with  flags  by  the  Lebanon  committee. 
Arriving  at  the  Green,  a  large  concourse  of  people  were 
found  assembled  at  an  early  hour.  The  town  was  in 
holiday  attire,  and  the  houses  gaily  decorated  with  bunt- 
ing and  devices.  Near  the  town-house  on  the  Green  a 
large  flag  extended  across  the  street  bore,  in  conspicuous 
letters,  the  words, 

"  WELCOME,    SONS   OF   THE    REVOLUTION." 

A  mound  on  the  Green  shows  all  that  is  left  of  a  large 
brick  oven  in  which  the  cooking  was  done  for  the  huz- 
zars  of  Lauzun's  legion  when  they  were  quartered  at 
Lebanon  in  the  winter  of  1781.  At  this  mound,  and  at 
the  "barracks  lot"  near  by,  the  French  and  American 
flags  were  displayed.  The  grave  of  the  deserter  who 
was  shot  under  sentence  of  a  French  court  martial  was 
marked  by  a  French  flag. 

By  ten  o'clock  the  throng  had  increased  to  such  an 
extent  that  it  was  decided  to  vary  the  programme  by 
admitting  visitors  at  once  to  the  War  Office  for  registra- 
tion and  for  examination  of  the  loan  exhibition.  The 
register  was  placed  upon  the  broad  ann  of  a  chair  which 


26 

once  belonged  to  Governor  Trumbull.  Quill  pens  made 
by  Mr.  Nathaniel  B.  Williams  from  Lebanon  geese  were 
used  by  those  who  registered  their  names.  The  inkstand 
was  one  which  had  been  made  of  a  piece  of  soapstone  by 
Dr.  Nott.  The  first  name  upon  the  register  was  that  of 
the  donor  of  the  building,  ^Mrs.  Bethiah  H.  Wattles,  aged 
ninety-one.  The  band  discoursed  its  music  while  the 
visitors  examined  the  exhibition  of  relics  and  curiosities 
which  had  been  carefully  collected  and  arranged  under 
the  supervision  of  Miss  Mary  H.  Button.  This  exhibit 
consisted  of  specimens  of  old-time  needle-work,  products 
of  the  spinning-wheel,  old  firearms,  sabres  and  rapiers, 
pictures,  china,  old  volumes,  documents,  and  utensils, 
forming  a  most  interesting  and  valuable  collection,  of 
which  it  is  impossible  to  furnish  a  catalogue  in  this  con- 
nection. 

The  speakers'  stand  had  been  erected  under  the  shade 
of  the  maple  trees  in  the  ample  space  in  front  of  the 
residence  of  Mrs.  Wattles,  which,  from  its  history,  formed 
an  attraction  equal  to  the  War  Office  itself.  This  house 
was  hospitably  thrown  open  to  the  numerous  visitors 
who  wished  to  cross  the  threshold  of  the  mansion  where 
Governor  Trumbull  resided  in  the  days  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  its  dooryard  was  thronged  with  those  who 
availed  themselves  of  the  numerous  seats  provided  under 
the  welcome  shade. 

Owing  to  a  delay  of  nearly  an  hour  in  the  arrival  of 
the  train  from  Hartford,  it  was  impossible  to  commence 
the  exercises  until  about  twelve  o'clock.  Up  to  this  time 
the  attendance  had  been  steadily  increasing  by  the 
arrival  of  the  train  from  New  Haven  with  a  delegation 
of  over  one  hundred,  and  by  the  continual  influx  of  visi- 
tors in  carriages  from  Norwich,  Willimantic,  Windham, 
and  other  towns.  The  train  from  Hartford  brought  the 
members  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  many  of 
whom  were  also  members  of  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution,  which  society  also  furnished  a  large  delega- 
tion from  Hartford. 


27 

Lineal  descendants  of  Jonathan  Trnmbnll  and  Gen- 
eral Jabez  Huntington  stood  ready  to  hoist  the  flag  at 
the  given  signal,  to  signify  that  TrumbuUs  and  Hunting- 
tons  could  still  pull  together  at  the  War  Office  as  in  the 
days  of  '7^-  At  the  roll  of  the  drums  the  flag,  with  its 
thirteen  stars,  floated  over  the  building.  A  few  minutes 
later  another  flag  bearing,  in  large  letters,  the  words, 

"  BROTHER   JONATHAN," 

was  displayed  from  the  residence  of  Mrs.  AVattles.  "  The 
Star  Spangled  Banner  "  was  admirably  rendered  as  a  solo 
by  Mrs.  Favor  of  Lebanon,  to  the  accompaniment  of  the 
band,  the  audience  joining  heartily  in  the  chorus  under 
the  leadership  of  Prof.  Favor. 

General  Hawley,  having  been  conducted  to  the  plat- 
form by  President  Trumbull,  was  introduced  by  him  in 
the  following  words : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  We  are  honored  to-day  by 
the  presence  of  one  whose  career  as  hero  and  statesman 
connects  him  so  intimately  with  our  country's  flag  that 
we  might  search  in  vain  for  one  who  could  more  fittingly 
utter  the  sentiments  which  the  sight  of  our  national  en- 
sign inspires.  I  have  the  honor  and  pleasure  to  announce 
an  address  by  General  Joseph  R.  Hawley. 

General  Hawley 's  appearance  was  greeted  with  loud 
and  prolonged  applause. 

He  spoke  as  follows : 

GENERAL   HAWLEV'S   ADDRESS. 

[From  the  Hartford  Courant  of  June  i6,  iSgi.] 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

This  is  an  occasion  unique  in  the  history  of  a  nation 
which  is,  in  itself,  remarkable.  I  am  told  that  this  is  the 
first  time  a  flag  was  ever  raised  over  this  War  Office.  In 
the  stirring  times  of  the  Revolution  they  were  too  busy 
to  attend  to  it.  We  look  on  our  country  as  comparatively 
new,  but  that  flag  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  flags.     The 


28 

British  flag  in  its  present  form  is  of  later  birth.  Our 
flag  is  a  flag  of  exceeding  beauty.  Perhaps  a  stranger 
would  not  think  so,  but  to  us  at  least  it  is  beautiful  with 
its  dear  associations.  It  is  now  the  flag  of  a  nation  of 
sixty-two  millions  of  people,  next  to  China  and  Russia, 
the  largest  nation  of  the  world,  and  a  nation  which  is 
making  rapid  progress. 

It  has  been  said  that  we  boast  too  much,  but  now  men 
are  beginning  to  look  back  and  to  depreciate  us.  Never- 
theless there  is  nowhere  in  the  world  a  wiser  creation  of 
man  than  the  revised  statutes  of  the  United  vStates  of 
America.  Our  creed  is  as  near  perfect  as  human  thought 
can  make  it.  I  will  be  glad  to  have  any  man  compare 
the  list  of  presidents  of  this  country  with  the  kings  and 
queens  of  any  other  nation.  For  wisdom  and  fidelity  to 
duty  our  presidents  have  far  eclipsed  the  royalty  of 
other  nations. 

There  is  no  government  that  has  lived  these  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  with  so  excellent  a  body  of  laws 
and  so  few  changes.  By  the  wisdom  of  Winthrop  we 
obtained  from  Charles  I.  a  charter  which  alloAved  us  vir- 
tually a  republican  form  of  government.  No  govern- 
ment in  Europe  or  elsewhere  has  continued  with  so  little 
change  since.  To  what  do  we  owe  all  this  ?  The  dis- 
cussion of  that  history  would  take  too  long.  But  I  will 
say  that  one  thing  to  which  we  owe  it  in  large  part  is  the 
organization  of  the  township,  a  complete  little  republic 
in  itself,  and  this  township  was  formed  around  a  church. 
The  minister  was  a  leader  of  the  flock  not  only  in  religion 
but  in  politics  and  various  matters  of  everyday  life. 
Four  men  were  indispensable  in  the  formation  of  the 
Yankee  township.  They  were  the  minister,  the  school- 
master, the  first  selectman,  and  the  captain  of  the  militia 
company. 

In  the  French  war  there  were  32,000  separate  enlist- 
ments from  Connecticut.  These  men  did  not  fight  at 
the  command  of  a  king ;  they  went  at  the  request  of  the 
govern(;r.     Among  all  those  who  had  a   share   in  the 


29 

building  up  of  this  commonwealth  no  one  had  a  greater 
part  than  Jonathan  Trumbull.  He  was  an  excellent 
governor.  He  was  a  born  diplomatist.  In  private  life 
he  was  a  fine  old  gentleman  with  a  bearing  and  courtesy 
that  brought  to  him  the  love  of  all.  He  was  a  man  of 
activity  during  that  French  war.  There  he  stands  as 
the  only  governor  who  marched  his  people  into  the  war 
and  kept  them  there  till  the  war  was  over.  It  was 
wonderful  what  qualities  of  statesmanship  were  bred  in 
these  hills.  He  was  practically  the  secretary  of  the  navy 
and  the  War  of  the  Revolution  was  won  in  a  large  meas- 
ure by  the  nav}'-. 

The  whole  State  owes  you  thanks,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, for  what  you  are  doing  here.  Some  of  us  have 
been  getting  hungry  for  some  real  American  doctrine. 
We  welcome  the  emigrants,  all  who  are  willing  to  be- 
come American  citizens,  to  bear  arms  for  the  country 
and  to  obey  our  laws.  But  many  come  only  to  better 
their  own  material  condition,  not  recognizing  that  liberty 
is  not  license.  There  is  plenty  for  this  society  to  do. 
There  are  many  old  relics  to  be  preserved.  How  strange 
that  the  State  has  not  before  this  taken  steps  to  have  this 
old  office  preserved.  Here  was  where  Trumbull  had  his 
headquarters  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  the  nation. 
What  a  noble  history  !  I  believe  it  is  given  to  departed 
saints  to  know  what  is  done  on  earth.  Then  the  old 
governor  must  be  here  on  this  occasion.  He  will  be 
pleased,  but  he  will  wonder  why  this  was  not  done  long 
before.  The  future  looks  bright,  and  greater  glories 
than  any  of  those  gone  b}^  are  yet  to  come  to  this  great- 
est country  of  the  world. 

This  address  w^as  received  with  close  attention  by  an 
audience  of  about  two  thousand  people,  who  frequently 
interrupted  it  with  applause. 

A  meeting  of  the  board  of  managers  had,  meanwhile, 
been  held,  at  which  meeting  thirty-three  members  were 
added  to  the  Society  of  Sons  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion,   upon    applications    previously    approved    by    the 


30 

Registrar.  At  this  meeting,  a  flag  was  presented  to  the 
board  by  ^Ir.  Jonathan  F.  Morris,  and  was  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  the  board  as  the  flag  of  the  Society.  This  flag  is 
a  white  field  with  a  Mue  carton  or  union  in  the  upper 
staff  corner.  These  colors,  blue  and  white,  were  the 
colors  of  Washington's  Life  Ouard,  whose  uniform  was 
a  blue  coat,  trimmed  with  white,  white  waistcoat  and 
knee-breeches. 

The  hour  of  one  o'clock  having  arrived,  the  drum- 
corps  sounded  its  call,  and  headed  a  long  and  informal 
procession  for  its  short  march  to  the  town  hall  and  the 
church  near  by,  at  both  of  which  places  an  ample  colla- 
tion had  been  provided  by  the  people  of  Lebanon ;  so 
ample  that  it  sufficed  not  only  for  the  members  of  the 
two  societies  and  their  guests,  to  the  number  of  more 
than  four  hundred,  but  also  for  visitors  who  were  not  so 
fortunate  as  to  wear  the  badge  of  either  society,  to  whom 
also,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred  or  more,  a  cordial 
invitation  was  extended  and  accepted,  to  partake  of  the 
good  things  which  Lebanon  hospitality  had  provided. 
The  dining-rooms  were  tastefully  decorated,  and  the 
wants  of  guests  were  promptly  supplied  by  a  number  of 
the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  Lebanon,  many  of  whom 
deprived  themselves  of  the  pleasure  of  attending  the  ex- 
ercises, in  order  to  dispense  the  hospitalities  of  the 
occasion. 

At  two  o'clock,  the  drums  and  fifes  sounded  the  signal 
for  assembling  at  the  speakers'  stand ;  and  at  half-past 
two,  the  exercises  of  the  afternoon  were  opened  with  the 
following  prayer  by  the  Rev.  William  DeLoss  Love, 
Chaplain  of  the  Connecticut  Society  of  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution : 

Almighty  God,  Thou  Father  of  all  mankind,  made 
manifest  in  Jesus  Christ  Thy  vSon,  we  adore  and  worship 
Thee.  Thou  didst  make  a  covenant  of  freedom  with 
our  fathers  when  Thou  broughtest  them  over  the  seas  to 
these  blessed  shores.  Here  they  raised  their  holy  altars 
and  taught  their  children  to  love  liberty  and  revere  the 


31 

truth.  And  in  the  days  of  their  conflict,  Thou  didst  take 
command  of  their  armies  and  gavest  them  the  victory. 
We  bless  thee  for  their  memories.  Especially  do  we  ac- 
knowledge Thy  guidance  in  the  life  of  him  to  whom  it 
was  given  here  in  this  historic  spot  to  spend  and  be  spent 
for  his  country.  Thou  didst  raise  him  up,  and  in  Thy 
time,  when  he  had  seen  the  reward  of  his  labors.  Thou 
didst  gather  him  to  his  fathers  in  peace.  We  remember 
also  with  gratitude  to  Thee  those  patriotic  men  and  wo- 
men who  upheld  his  hands  in  the  day  of  conflict  until 
the  going  down  of  the  sun.  O  Almighty  God,  we  their 
sons  and  daughters,  having  received  at  Thy  hand  a 
goodly  heritage,  humbly  beseech  Thee  to  instruct  us  in 
our  duty  as  citizens  that  we  may  maintain  the  freedom 
established  through  their  hardships  endured  and  their 
blood  shed.  May  we  love  righteousness  and  hate  iniq- 
uity, and  recognize  Thee  as  our  lawgiver  and  Thy 
blessed  Son  as  our  Redeemer. 

Grant  Thy  providential  guidance  in  all  public  affairs. 
Bless  Thy  servant  the  chief  magistrate  of  these  United 
States,  our  judges.  Congress,  and  the  governments  of  the 
several  commonwealths.  Unite  us  as  one  people,  know- 
ing no  other  land  to  call  our  own  than  this,  and  preserve 
our  nation  until  kings  and  empires  have  an  end,  and 
Thy  kingdom  alone  endureth,  eternal  in  the  heavens. 

This  we  humbly  ask  through  Jesus  Christ  Thy  Son. 
Amen. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  prayer,  Mr.  Nathaniel  B. 
Williams  of  Lebanon  arose  and  presented  the  War  Office 
to  the  Society  in  the  following  address : 

FORMAL  PRESENTATION   OF  THE  WAR  OFFICE   BY  THE 
HON.  N.   B.   WILLIAMS. 

As  we  look  at  yonder  flag  with  its  thirteen  stars  float- 
ing in  the  breeze,  it  carries  our  minds  back  to  the  early 
history  of  this  country,  especially  that  period  covered  by 
the  American  Revolution. 

Our  relations  to  our  mother  country  are  more  or  less 
familiar  to  us  all.     When  our  ancestors  first  landed  on 


32 

Plymouth  Rock,  and  for  a  long  time  thereafter,  they  had 
no  idea  of  separating-  their  relation  from  Great  Britain. 
But,  as  time  wore  on,  her  measures  grew  more  and  more 
oppressive  ;  unjust  requirements  were  constantly  increas- 
ing, privileges  to  which  they  had  a  just  right  were 
constantly  diminishing  until  at  last  the  yoke  became  too 
galling  for  our  fathers  to  submit  to  and  still  maintain 
their  honor  and  self-respect  as  men. 

After  making  appeal  after  appeal  for  redress  —  but 
all  in  vain  —  then  followed  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, July  4,  1776.  It  was  easy  to  make  the  declaration, 
but  it  was  a  mighty  undertaking  to  maintain  it,  and  this 
they  fully  understood  when  they  pledged  their  lives, 
fortune,  and  sacred  honor  to  the  cause. 

The  foe  was  strong,  our  numbers  comparatively  few, 
resources  limited,  traitors  numerous.  Under  such  circum- 
stances to  succeed  needed  sound  judgment,  wise  counsel, 
iron  will,  and  an  unbounded  determination,  all  of  which 
"  Brother  Jonathan  "  possessed  during  the  trying  years 
of  the  Revolution,  and  his  ability  to  impart  the  same  to 
others  made  him  a  power  in  maintaining  our  independ- 
ence and  in  laying  the  foundation  for  the  best  govern- 
ment that  the  sun  ever  shone  upon  ! 

Another  point  necessary  in  maintaining  our  independ- 
ence was  concert  of  action,  and  the  War  Office  was  the 
great  center  of  attraction  from  which  such  an  influence 
arose,  and  its  associations  in  this  respect  are  calculated  to 
touch  the  heart  of  every  patriot.  It  was  in  that  building 
that  George  Washington  often  met  his  bosom  friend,  our 
first  war  governor,  and  the  only  one  in  thirteen  colonies 
in  whom  he  could  place  implicit  confidence.  In  that  office 
they  matured  plans  for  future  action.  It  was  there  that 
important  war  measures  originated,  dispatches  were  sent 
to  the  army,  reports  returned,  and  the  war  council  held 
over  one  thousand  sessions. 

During  some  of  the  dark  days  of  the  Revolution,  so 
dark  as  to  be  depressing  to  ordinary  minds,  it  was  the 
inspiring  words  that  went  forth   from   this  council  — 


33 

who  believed  their  cause  was  the  cause  of  God  —  that 
gave  hope  and  cheer  to  the  army  and  renewed  courage 
to  trust  in  Him  who  overrules  all  events,  to  keep  their 
"  powder  dry  "  and  "  fight  on,  to  victory  or  to  death." 

It  was  military  headquarters  for  this  part  of  the 
country,  and  its  floors  have  been  trodden  by  Washing- 
ton, Trumbull,  Adams  —  Samuel  and  John  —  Jefferson, 
Putnam,  Franklin,  Knox,  and  many  others  of  note,  both 
of  this  country  and  France. 

The  War  Office  was  the  center  of  influence  to  keep  the 
fires  of  the  Revolution  burning,  and  this  vast  assembly 
shows  that  it  will  take  more  than  another  century  to  kill 
out  the  fire  that  burned  in  the  bosoms  of  the  patriots  of 

I  rejoice  that  there  is  a  society  called  the  "  Sons  of 
the  American  Revolution,"  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
perpetuating  the  memory  of  their  fathers  and  preserving 
as  memorials  those  relics  that  are  connecting  links  with 
the  revolution,  and  it  affords  me  great  pleasure,  in  be- 
half of  Mrs.  Wattles,  the  donor  of  the  War  Office,  to  pres- 
ent to  the  Society,  through  their  president,  Mr.  Trumbull, 
the  key  of  said  office.  I  do  not  ask  you  to  keep  it  in  a 
state  of  preservation,  for  what  you  have  already  done  and 
the  fact  that  the  blood  of  the  Revolutionary  fathers 
flows  in  your  veins  is  sufficient  guarantee  for  the  future. 

This  Office  withstood  the  storm  of  the  Revolution  ;  it 
saw  the  birth  of  this  nation  ;  it  has  defied  the  storms  and 
tempests  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  years,  and 
there  let  it  stand  as  a  memorial  of  the  past,  and  an  educa- 
tor for  the  present  and  future  generations,  teaching  them 
that  the  wise  and  good  may  die,  but  they  are  not  forgot- 
ten! 

The  president  of  the  society,  Mr.  Jonathan  Trumbull, 
responded  in  the  following  words  : 

The  Connecticut  Society  of  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution  gratefully  accepts  the  trust  which  is  implied 
in  your  conveyance  of  the  time-honored  War  Office,  in 
profound  consciousness  of  all  that  this  trust  signifies. 
5 


34 

It  is  not  in  words  that  we  can  convey  to  you  a  sense 
of  this  consciousness.  To  thank  the  donor  for  the  spirit 
which  has  prompted  the  gift ;  to  thank  the  people  of  this 
historic  town  for  their  generous  and  hearty  cooperation 
in  our  attempts  to  honor  the  gift  as  it  deserves,  would 
be  a  mockery.  Patriotism  is  not  a  thing  for  which  one 
American  may  thank  another ;  not  a  valuable  commodity 
which  can  be  passed  over  from  an  individual  or  a  com- 
munity to  an  organization  like  ours  as  a  matter  of  com- 
pliment. It  is  patriotism  alone  which  has  manifested 
itself  in  the  gift,  and  in  all  that  the  people  of  Lebanon 
have  done  in  connection  with  it.  We  honor  that  senti- 
ment too  deeply  to  think  of  requiting  it  by  empty  words. 
We  honor  it  in  the  venerable  lady  who  has  intrusted  to 
us  the  completion  of  a  design  she  has  so  long  cherished ; 
we  honor  it  in  the  members  of  her  family  who  have  so 
effectively  promoted  and  contributed  to  this  purpose ; 
and  we  honor  it  in  the  people  of  this  town  of  Lebanon 
where  patriotism  always  has  shown  itself,  and  always 
will  show  itself  to  be  native  to  the  soil. 

As  the  result  of  a  prompt  and  generous  recognition 
of  the  character  and  spirit  of  our  organization,  this  his- 
toric building  stands  once  more  dedicated  to  the  spirit  of 
'76.  It  signifies  to  our  society  the  first  tangible  result  of 
the  purposes  for  which  we  are  instituted,  and  an  obliga- 
tion whose  sacredness  will  inspire  the  many  generations 
which  will  arise  to  fill  our  places  in  increasing  numbers 
in  the  future.  It  signifies  to  us,  also,  an  unwritten  bond 
of  union  between  the  people  of  Lebanon  and  ourselves, 
all  the  more  effective  for  being  unwritten,  because  it  is 
made  in  the  spirit  of  patriotism  which  we  recognize  in 
each  other,  and  which  alone  can  give  force  and  perma- 
nence to  such  a  bond. 

It  is,  I  am  told,  often  lamented  that,  some  forty  years 
ago,  the  railroads  were  kept  at  a  respectful  distance  from 
the  heart  of  your  town.  The  loss  in  gro^vth,  and  in  the 
development  of  the  new  and  ugly,  which  may  have 
resulted  from  this  circumstance,  is  now  requited  by  the 


35 

fact  that  you  can  show  to  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
and  to  your  other  guests  to-day,  a  town  so  little  altered 
from  the  Lebanon  of  1776,  when  the  sessions  of  the 
Council  of  Safety  in  the  War  Office  made  it  the  delegated 
capital  of  our  State.  It  is  appropriate,  too,  that  the 
American  of  the  present  day,  and  of  future  days,  should 
undertake  something  which  may  savor  to  him  of  a  pil- 
grimage when  he  pays  his  reverence  at  the  shrine  of  the 
old  AVar  Office,  though  the  journey  would  have  appeared 
to  his  ancestors  more  than  luxurious.  The  pride  which 
you  naturally  feel  in  Lebanon's  cradle  of  liberty  will  be 
fostered  by  the  fact  that,  for  this  same  reason,  we  must, 
to  a  great  extent,  delegate  to  you  the  care  and  custody 
of  the  building,  uniting  with  you  in  plans  which  shall 
make  it  useful  and  attractive  for  the  future. 

Thanks  to  the  honest  carpentry  of  our  ancestors,  and 
thanks  to  the  durability  of  our  good  old  Connecticut  oak, 
emblematic  of  patriotism,  the  old  War  Office,  restored 
and  repaired,  will  now  last  through  many  generations  to 
come,  inspiring  our  children  and  our  children's  children 
as  it  inspires  us  on  this  anniversary  of  the  adoption  of 
our  country's  flag. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  address,  Mr.  Erastus  Geer  of 
Lebanon  arose  and  introduced  a  most  interesting  feature 
in  the  exercises,  which  had  not  been  placed  upon  the 
programme.  Upon  front  seats  on  the  platform  were 
four  venerable  citizens  of  Lebanon.  Mr.  Geer  intro- 
duced them  to  the  large  assemblage  in  the  following 
words : 
Mr.  President^  Sons,  Assembly  : 

The  War  Office  is  the  object  of  interest  that  calls  us 
together  to-day ;  but  there  is  another  feature  of  interest 
that  is  worthy  of  notice. 

We  have  four  citizens  of  Lebanon  who  are  sons 
direct  of  Revolutionary  soldiers.  With  pleasure  we  in- 
troduce them. 

Colonel  Anson  Fowler,  eighty-seven  and  a  half  years 
old,  son  of  Amos  Fowler,  a  revolutionary  soldier  who 


36 

served  in  the  war  from  beginning  to  end,  was  orderly- 
sergeant  :  was  in  the  battle  at  Long  Island,  and  at  York- 
town,  and  for  a  time  was  one  of  the  twelve  that  composed 
General  Washington's  Life  Guard.  He  had  five  brothers 
in  the  war,  making  six  soldiers  from  one  family.  It  is 
no  surprise  that  Cornwallis  surrendered. 

It  was  John  Fowler  who  bore  the  lamented  Warren 
from  the  field  at  Bunker  Hill.  While  doing  it,  a  com- 
rade came  to  his  assistance,  but  John  says,  "  No,  I  can  do 
it ;  go  and  fight  as  hard  as  you  can." 

Colonel  Fowler  was  the  youngest  of  a  family  of 
twelve  children,  and  is  the  only  survivor.  His  military 
career  was  in  the  cavalry.  He  retired  with  the  rank  of 
Colonel.  He  tells  us,  that  a  few  days  since,  he  witnessed 
a  lively  sham  fight  on  the  field  where  his  father  fought 
on  Long  Island. 

(Here,  Colonel  Fowler  said  he  wished  to  say  a  word, 
and  rising  with  a  fifty-dollar  note  of  old  continental 
money  in  his  hand,  he  said,  holding  the  note  to  the  view 
of  the  audience :  "  My  father  fought  for  eight  dollars  a 
month,  and  was  paid  in  such  stuff  as  this.  When  he  re- 
turned from  the  war,  with  four  fifty-dollar  notes  in  his 
pocket,  he  could  not  buy  a  mug  of  flip  with  all  of  them." 
This  speech  elicited  a  hearty  laugh  from  the  audience.) 

Mr.  Geer,  resuming,  then  said,  I  next  introduce  John 
D.  Kingsley,  eighty-three  years  old,  the  son  of  Ashael 
Kingsley,  who  entered  the  Revolutionary  service  in  1 780, 
and  afterwards  became  captain.  Mr.  Kingsley  is  the 
youngest  of  a  family  of  six  children,  and  is  the  only 
survivor. 

I  now  introduce  Deacon  John  D.  Avery,  eighty-four  _ 
and  a  half  years  old,  son  of  David  Avery,  who  entered 
the  service  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  at  New  London,  soon 
after  the  Groton  massacre.  He  afterwards  became  cap- 
tain. Deacon  Avery  is  the  ninth  of  a  family  of  ten 
children,  and  is  the  only  survivor.  His  military  service 
was  that  of   a  musician  in  the  Flank  Company,  and  a 


37 

good  soldier  in  the  Baptist  Church,  fighting  the  good 
fight,  and  will  win  the  crown. 

Last  I  introduce  Captain  Griswold  E.  Morgan,  eighty 
years  old,  son  of  William  Avery  Morgan,  who  was 
at  Bunker  Hill  and  at  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  where 
a  British  bullet  passed  through  his  hat  —  first  through 
the  brim  where  it  was  turned  up  in  front,  then  through 
the  crown,  cutting  a  lock  of  hair  from  his  head.  He  was 
orderly  sergeant,  and  after  the  war  became  captain. 

Captain  Morgan  is  the  sixteenth  of  a  family  of  seven- 
teen children,  and  is  the  only  survivor.  His  military 
service  was  in  the  Lebanon  militia,  retiring  as  captain. 
He  gave  two  sons,  William  E.  and  George  H.,  to  save  the 
Union  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  The  former 
received  a  ball  in  his  arm,  destroying  the  action  of  the 
elbow  joint,  and  the  latter  died  of  fever  in  the  hospital 
at  Beaufort,  N.  C.  The  late  Governor  Morgan  of  New 
York  was  Captain  Morgan's  nephew,  and  Governor 
Morgan  G.  Bulkeley  his  great-great-nephew. 

Honored  Sons :  We  thank  you  for  your  presence  with 
us  to-day.  We  look  upon  you  not  as  relics,  but  as  treas- 
ures of  your  generation,  which  is  the  only  direct  link 
connecting  us  with  the  Revolution.  Your  fathers,  our 
grandfathers,  fought  for  and  won  the  freedom  which  has 
made  it  possible  for  this  country  to  become  what  it 
is  to-day,  the  nation  of  nations.  You  have  witnessed  its 
growth  from  the  thirteen  original  States  clustered  upon 
the  Atlantic  ;  it  has  increased  in  numbers  arithmetically 
and  in  expanse  geometrically.  Stars  have  lit  upon 
its  flag  like  snowflakes. 

(Applause.) 

The  President :  Lebanon  has  done  much  for  us  to-day. 
She  has  given  us  the  War  Office,  and  has  ably  assisted  us 
in  honoring  it,  and  she  has  loaned  us  four  honored  sons 
of  Revolutionary  sires.  It  is  hardly  a  fitting  time  for 
us  to  ask  more,  but  allow  me  to  say  to  you,  Mr.  Geer,  as 
a  member  of  our  Society,  that  Lebanon  should  give 
us  these  sons,  as  she  has  given  us  the  War  Office.     {Col- 


38 

oncl  Fowler:  "I  am  ready.")  We  will  take  them  on 
the  same  terms,  repairs  and  all,  for  they  are  specimens 
of  our  good  old  Connecticut  oak,  which  needs  no  repairs. 
The  only  conveyance  necessary  is  the  filling  up  of 
that  brief  statement  of  pedigree  and  ancestor's  service 
contained  in  our  form  of  application  for  membership, 
with  which  you  can  provide  them. 

One  of  our  poets  has  said,  "  Let  me  make  my  nation's 
songs,  and  I  care  not  who  makes  its  laws."  We  are 
happy  in  having  among  the  contributors  to  this  occasion 
one  whose  muse  has  often  inspired  the  sentiment  of 
patriotism,  which  makes  lawgiving  a  matter  of  unused 
form.  I  have  the  honor  and  pleasure  to  announce  a 
poem  b}'  Air.  Thomas  S.  Collier  of  New  London. 

j\Ir.  Collier  read  the  following  poem,  which  he  had 
kindly  composed  for  the  occasion  : 

POEM    BY    MR.    THOMAS   S.    COLLIER. 

What  is  the  soul  of  a  nation? 

Lo,  is  it  not  deeds  well  done? 
Red  blood  poured  out  as  libation  ? 

Hard  toil  till  the  end  is  won? 
Swift  blows,  when  the  smoke  goes  drifting 

From  the  cannon,  hot  with  flame? 
And  work,  when  the  war  clouds,  lifting, 

Show  the  blazoning  of  fame  ? 
These  hold  that  aftiuence  golden. 

Bright  fire  of  sword  and  pen, 
Which  from  the  ages  olden 

Has  thrilled  the  hearts  of  men. 

Not  where  the  trumpets  bluster. 

And  answering  bugles  sound, 
As  martial  legions  muster, 

Are  all  the  heroes  found  ; 
But  where  the  orchards  blooming 

Foams  white  the  hills  along. 
And  bees,  with  lazy  booming. 

Wake  the  brown  sparrow's  song, 


39 

By  quiet  hearths  are  beating 

The  hearts  that  watch  and  wait, 
With  thought  each  act  completing, 

That  conquers  Time  and  Fate  ; 
Rounding  with  patient  labor 

The  work  of  those  who  died. 
Where  sabre  clashed  with  sabre 

Above  war's  sanguine  tide. 

Here  was  no  field  of  battle, 

These  hills  no  echoes  gave 
Of  that  fierce  rush  and  rattle 

Whose  harvest  is  the  grave ; 
Yet  where  the  drums  were  calling. 

And  where  the  fight  was  hot, 
And  men  were  swiftly  falling 

Before  the  whistling  shot. 
No  soul  with  hope  was  stronger 

Than  that  which  blossomed  here- 
No  voice,  as  days  grew  longer, 

Was  louder  with  its  cheer. 

Ah,  souls  were  bent  and  shaken 

As  days  grew  into  years. 
And  saw  no  bright  hope  waken 

To  gleam  amid  the  tears  — 
Heard  no  call,  triumph  sounding, 

From  mountain  side  and  gorge, 
Only  the  low  graves  rounding  — 

The  gloom  of  Valley  Forge ; 
Yet  here  a  strength  unbroken 

Met  all  the  storm-filled  days, 
Rising  sublime,  a  token 

Of  faith,  in  weary  ways. 

What  built  the  power,  unfolding 
Such  glorious  purpose,  when 

War's  carnival  was  holding 

High  feast  with  homes  and  men? 


40 

When  grew  the  thought,  whose  glory 

Burned  like  a  sun  supreme, 
Above  the  fields,  all  gory 

With  battle's  crimson  stream? 
Where  bloomed  the  manhood,  keeping 

Such  steadfast  step  and  strong. 
When  the  red  sword  was  reaping 

The  harvesting  of  wrong? 
Here  in  the  peace,  and  tender 

Warm  light  of  heart  and  hearth. 
Was  born  that  virile  splendor 

Which  filled  the  waiting  earth,  — 
That  flame  of  Freedom,  rising 

In  broadening  waves  of  light. 
The  souls  of  men  surprising, 

And  lifting  them  from  night ; 
Here,  and  in  kindred  places. 

The  fire  that  all  could  see 
Shone  from  determined  faces, 

And  taught  men  to  be  free. 

Why  are  we  gathered  together? 

The  land  is  full  of  peace. 
And  high  in  the  halcyon  weather 

The  songs  of  labor  increase. 
What  makes  the  drums  beat,  ringing 

Their  challenge  to  the  hills? 
Why  are  the  bugles  flinging 

Swift  calls  to  marts  and  mills? 
Because  these  walls  have  cherished 

A  memory  bright  and  high  ; 
No  name  they  knew  has  perished. 

For  deeds  can  never  die ; 
And  here,  when  hearts  were  beating. 

Half  hoping,  half  in  fear. 
Strong  souls,  in  council  meeting, 

Spoke  firm,  and  loud,  and  clear. 


41 

There  was  no  weak  denying, 

There  was  no  backward  glance, 
But  where  the  flags  were  flying, 

And  red  shone  sword  and  lance, 
Their  words  rang  swift  and  cheerful. 

And  skies  grew  bright  again, 
For  those  whose  hearts  were  fearful, 

For  these  were  master  men  ; 
And  one  led,  who  unknowing 

Linked  to  the  land  his  name, 
By  earnest  manhood  showing 

How  near  we  live  to  fame. 

Ours  is  the  sunlit  morning  — 

Ours  is  the  noontide's  gold  — 
And  the  radiant  light  adorning 

The  paths  once  dark  and  cold  ; 
But  the  savor  of  our  treasure 

Was  the  salt  of  toil,  and  tears. 
And  want,  that  filled  the  measure 

Of  long  and  bitter  years ; 
We  drink  the  wine  of  gladness. 

We  reap  the  harvest  sheaves. 
Whose  seed  was  sown  in  sadness. 

And  the  drift  of  yellow  leaves ; 
With  faith,  and  not  with  grieving. 

Was  built  the  mighty  past ; 
What  good  gift  are  we  leaving 

To  those  who  follow  fast  ? 
What  thought,  what  deed,  what  glory 

Shall  mark  this  epoch  ours, 
And  leave  our  names  and  story 

High  set  where  grandeur  towers? 

What  thing  shall  make  men  cherish 

The  memory  of  to-day  ? 
Ah,  actions  will  not  perish 

Though  monuments  decay. 
6 


42 

We  see,  spread  out  before  us, 

The  fairest  land  of  earth, 
Loud  with  the  ringing  chorus 

That  only  here  has  birth : 
Ours  is  the  holy  duty 

To  build,  with  firmer  hand, 
This  heritage  of  beauty. 

That  it  may  ever  stand ; 
Our  deeds  should  make  more  lavSting 

The  freedom  that  has  grown 
From  toil,  and  tears,  and  fasting, 

And  strength  of  blood  and  bone. 
Then  like  the  blossoms  vernal 

That  with  the  spring  combine. 
Our  age  will  shine  eternal. 

To  all  mankind  a  sign  ; 
A  star  serene,  yet  showing 

Near  kindred  to  the  sun, 
Whereon  these  names  are  glowing  — 

Trumbull  and  Washington. 

(Applause.) 

TJic  President :  The  transition  from  poetry  to  prose  is 
usually  abrupt  and  depressing  ;  but  we  are  fortunately  so 
situated  to-day  that,  in  making  this  transition,  we  shall 
only  pass  from  one  inspiration  to  another.  No  one  could 
more  fittingly  deliver  the  address  now  to  follow  than  one 
of  Lebanon  ancestry  whose  utterances  from  the  rostrum 
and  through  the  press  have  marked  him  as  the  champion 
of  the  things  honest,  true,  and  of  good  report,  of  which 
the  apostle  speaks. 

I  take  great  pride  and  pleasure  in  announcing  an 
address  by  the  Reverend  Dr.  Leonard  W.  Bacon,  the 
orator  of  the  day. 

Dr.  Bacon  spoke  as  follows : 


43 

MR.    bacon's   address. 

It  is  written  in  an  ancient  report  of  an  old-time  ora- 
tion on  some  public  occasion  in  New  England,  that  the 
orator  began  by  disabling  himself.  It  was  only  a  phrase 
of  the  English  of  the  period,  to  signify  that  the  speaker 
began  by  acknowledging  his  disqualifications  for  the 
function  he  was  about  to  attempt  —  a  most  injudicious 
form  of  exordium,  which  has  not  gone  wholly  out  of 
fashion  to  this  day.  Let  the  audience  find  out  for  them- 
selves, if  they  can,  that  the  speaker  is  not  master  of  his 
subject ;  if  they  do  not  find  it  out,  why  should  he  be  so 
foolish  as  to  tell  them  ? 

Do  not  expect  from  me,  then,  any  superfluous 
acknowledgments  of  what  is  perfectly  understood  be- 
tween us  already.  It  was  only  after  those  had  declined, 
to  whom  the  thoughts  of  all  had  naturally  turned  as  the 
fitting  and  representative  spokesmen  for  this  occasion 
and  this  venerable  place,  that  the  committee  had  re- 
course, at  a  late  hour,  to  one  whose  fitness  consists  in  his 
bearing,  by  inheritance,  the  name  of  a  most  loving, 
learned,  and  eloquent  historian  of  the  best  and  noblest 
things  in  the  past  of  New  England  and  especially  of 
Connecticut ;  and  in  his  being  at  two  removes  a  son  of 
this  ancient  town  of  Lebanon.  Whether  also  a  Son  of 
the  Revolution  by  virtue  of  any  deeds  in  arms  of  the 
Beaumonts  and  the  Parks  of  this  town  he  cannot  say, 
having  been  too  much  occupied  in  caring  for  his  descend- 
ants to  pay,  as  yet,  much  attention  to  his  ancestors. 
Such  qualifications,  joined  with  a  true  and  reverent  love 
for  the  occasion  and  the  subject,  are  my  only  fitness  for 
this  office.  I  can  hope  to  make  no  contribution  to  the 
rich  stores  of  history  that  have  been  already  gathered ; 
but  only  to  revive  your  own  memories  of  the  great  and 
heroic  history  that  centered  in  the  old  War  Office,  and  in 
the  person  of  Governor  Jonathan  Trumbull  the  First,  and 
to  reiterate  the  lessons  of  patriotic  virtue  that  it  teaches, 
lessons  that  cannot  be  heard  too  often  nor  too  deeply  im- 
pressed. 


44 

At  the  very  threshold  of  our  study  of  the  subject,  we 
need  to  divest  our  minds  of  the  false  impression  conveyed 
by  the  current  popular  name  of  the  War  of  Independ- 
ence. In  others  of  the  thirteen  colonies,  this  war  was 
indeed  a  "  Revolutionary  War."  But  Connecticut  never 
had  a  revolutionary  war.  Let  other  States  recount  the 
blessings  that  have  accrued  to  them  as  the  results  of  the 
Revolution,  and  the  cost  in  blood  and  treasure  that  was 
paid  for  them,  saying,  as  well  they  may,  "  with  a  great 
price  obtained  I  this  freedom."  But  let  Connecticut 
never  forget  to  make  her  proud  reply,  "  but  I  was  free- 
born."  The  commonwealths  of  Virginia  and  Massachu- 
setts were  first,  perhaps,  to  feel  the  irksomeness  and  galling 
of  the  yoke  of  bondage.  The  free  democratic  republic 
of  Connecticut,  free,  democratic,  and  independent  from 
its  first  inception,  never  ceased  to  be  free  and  independent 
except  in  name.  The  people  whose  "  strong  bent  of 
mind "  inclined  them  to  seek  a  settlement  outside  the 
chartered  limits  of  any  existing  colony  —  they  and  their 
children  were  a  chosen  people  who  never  were  in  bond- 
age to  any  man.  The  history  of  that  wonderful  prophetic 
constitution  of  Connecticut  first  told  in  monograph  by  my 
father,'--  since  illuminated  by  the  research  of  Dr.  Hammond 
Trumbull,  now  known  and  honored  by  the  first  publicists 
of  the  world,  as  for  instance  by  Dr.  Bryce  in  his  classic 
volumes  on  the  American  Commonwealth,  has  just  now 
been  admirably  retold  by  Mr.  Alexander  Johnston  f  and 
by  Mr.  Joseph  H.  Twichell.:};  We  all  know  now,  thanks 
to  these  lucid  exponents,  what  unique  glory  in  the 
history  of  Civil  Liberty  belongs  to  "  Mr.  Hooker's  com- 
pany "  and  pre-eminently  to  that  divinely  anointed 
prophet  of  the  coming  age,  Thomas  Hooker  himself. 
We  know  that  it  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut, 
250  years  ago,  that  the  first  notes  of  that  march  were 

♦Discourse  on  the  early  Constitutional  History  of  Connecticut,  delivered 
before  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  Hartford.  May  17,  1S43,  by 
Leonard  Bacon.     Hartford,  1843.    pp.  24. 

+  "  Connecticut"  in  the  American  Commonwealth  Series. 

$  Historical  address  delivered  at  Hartford  January  24,  1889,  and  published 
by  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society. 


45 

sounded  to  which  the  constitutional  liberties  of  America 
and  the  world  are  keeping  time  to-day.  And  the  next 
chapter  in  the  history  is  no  less  marvelous  than  the  first, 
the  chapter  which  tells  how,  when  the  first  of  all  written 
constitutions  had  to  be  superseded  by  a  royal  charter,  the 
work  of  Hooker,  Haynes,  and  Ludlow  and  the  people 
whom  they  led  was  so  conserved  by  "  the  accomplished 
diplomacy  of  the  younger  Winthrop,"  that  the  change 
from  constitution  to  charter  was  practically  little  more 
than  a  change  of  name.  The  original  free  democratic 
republic  went  on  as  before,  choosing  its  own  governors 
and  legislators,  enacting  and  enforcing  its  own  laws.  No 
royal  assent  was  ever  asked  or  given  to  a  Connecticut 
statute.  No  royal  governor  ever  successfully  asserted 
his  authority  on  Connecticut  soil.  Among  the  "  Sons  of 
the  Revolution  "  the  Connecticut  society  is  entitled  to  a 
pre-eminence  as  sons  of  sires  who  were  always  free,  and 
who  fought  in  a  war  which  was  for  them  no  revolution, 
not  to  win  freedom  for  themselves,  but  to  win  it  for 
other  commonwealths  less  privileged,  and  for  themselves 
to  maintain  it  always  inviolate,  under  a  title,  not  of 
human  rights,  but  of  a  divine  right  not  less  sacred  and 
far  better  attested  than  any  jus  divinmn  ever  pretended 
by  Stuart  or  Hanoverian. 

Naturally,  this  characteristic  of  the  War  of  Independ- 
ence in  Connecticut,  that  it  was  a  war,  not  of  revolution, 
but  of  conservation,  gave  a  characteristic  steady  and  con- 
servative tone  to  the  course  of  the  State  throughout  the 
war.  Elsewhere  the  war  was  a  rebellion,  the  insurgent 
people  arming  against  the  constituted  government. 
Here,  it  was  the  State  itself,  as  an  organic  unit,  under  its 
constitutional  and  lawful  officers,  arming  in  its  own  de- 
fense against  a  threat  of  revolution  to  be  enforced  upon 
it  from  without.  And  it  moved  with  calmness,  dignity, 
and  solid  weight.  There  was  no  need  here  of  the  stormy 
eloquence  which  rocked  the  Cradle  of  Liberty,  and  stirred 
up  the  stones  of  Boston  streets  to  mutiny.  There  was  no 
occasion,  there  was  no  chance,  for  fights  like  Lexington 


46 

and  Concord  and  Bunker  Hill.  The  people  and  the 
State  were  one.  There  was  no  domestic  enemy.  There 
were  individual  tories  —  and  an  unhappy  time  they  had  of 
it  —  but  there  was  no  tory  party.  There  was  no  hospi- 
tality here  for  invading  armies.  Never  but  twice  did  they 
venture  to  stay  over  night,  and  never  did  they  wait  long 
enough  to  be  whipped.  Therefore  it  is  that  we  are  so 
poor  in  battlefields  and  in  monuments  of  that  period. 
What  fiehtingr  Connecticut  had  to  do  • —  and  she  did  her 
full  share  —  had  to  be  done  on  the  soil  of  other  States. 
I  do  not  know  the  particular  origin  of  that  sobriquet 
which  characterizes  our  State  as  "  the  land  of  steady 
habits."  But  it  may  well  have  had  its  rise  in  the  sobriety 
and  tenacity  with  which  Connecticut  so  sovereignly 
moved  into  the  war  and  then  moved  on  with  it.  I  have 
already  given  reasons  why  it  could  not  be  so  with  the 
neighbor  States.  The  Scripture  saith  not  in  vain,  "  Op- 
pression maketh  a  wise  man  mad."  There  were  w^ise 
men  in  the  Bay  State,  and  when  actual  oppression  began, 
they  were  mad,  very  mad  indeed.  Massachusetts  had 
more  than  once  asserted  her  claim  to  the  hegemony 
among  the  New  England  colonies,  and  at  this  time  was 
much  disposed  to  force  the  fighting ;  was  much  vexed 
indeed,  when  Connecticut,  instead  of  falling  promptly 
into  line  behind  her  Committees  of  Safety,  continued 
in  correspondence  through  her  Governor  with  the  royal 
Governor  Gage  at  Boston,  as  between  co-ordinate 
authorities,  seeking  in  all  sincerity  to  avert  the  war  for 
which  nevertheless  she  went  on  making  strenuous  pre- 
paration. But  Massachusetts  patriots  had  reason  to  change 
their  mind,  and  to  be  thankful  for  the  sober,  steady 
little  State  to  the  south  of  them  which  moved  in  solid 
organization  beside  them  into  the  smoke  and  dust  of  the 
fight,  never  hurrying  and  never  flinching.  They  came 
to  think  better  of  Connecticut  when  from  all  her  towns 
the  supplies  voted  regularly  in  her  town  meetings  came 
flowing  in  to  the  relief  of  beleaguered  Boston,  and  es- 
pecially when  the  thirty  barrels  of  gunpowder  that  had 


47 

been  stored  by  provident  Governor  Jonathan  Trumbull 
arrived  in  time  to  fill  the  cartridge-boxes  and  the  powder- 
horns  on  Bunker  Hill. 

Great  as  was  the  advantage  to  the  cause  of  America 
and  freedom  in  the  existence  of  a  State  like  Connecti- 
cut, not  disorganized  by  the  war,  these  advantages  would 
have  been  nullified,  or  worse,  if  the  head  of  the  vState 
had  been  feeble  and  timid  like  Governor  Wanton  of 
Rhode  Island,  or  a  bitter  and  malignant  tory  like  Trum- 
bull's Harvard  classmate,  Governor  Hutchinson  of  Massa- 
chusetts. What  was  needed  was  a  wise,  energetic, 
patriotic  governor  at  the  head  of  a  patriotic  vState.  And 
it  was  to  meet  this  exigency  that  God  raised  up  Jona- 
than Trumbull,  and  trained  him  with  a  singularly  varied 
discipline  for  a  great  career.  It  was  wisely  fitted  to  the 
time  and  the  place  that  this  training  should  begin  with 
the  college  education  which  in  early  New  England,  be- 
fore the  days  of  professional  seminaries,  was  eminently 
a  theological  education,  fitting  one  for  the  ministry  of 
the  gospel,  and  in  a  State  whose  system  of  laws  was 
distinctly  and  professedly  founded  on  the  Institutes  of 
Moses,  fitting  one  no  less  for  the  profession  of  the  law 
and  for  all  the  relations  of  civil  and  political  life.  It  was 
a  noble  and  worthy  beginning  of  life,  to  begin  with  the 
diligent  and  enthusiastic  study  of  the  Scriptures  in  Greek 
and  Hebrew,  and  with  the  religious  purpose  of  devoting 
his  life  to  the  ministry  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  for  a  more 
special  preparation  for  his  destined  work,  the  wit  of  man 
could  have  invented  nothing  more  exactly  fitting  than 
that  into  which  he  was  presently  coerced  by  providential 
circumstances  —  the  business  of  a  country  merchant  as  it 
was  then  carried  on.  How  completely  and  marvelously 
different  from  our  conditions  were  those  in  which  a  great 
and  far-reaching  mercantile  business,  spreading  into  all 
parts  of  the  State  and  into  other  States  and  sailing  its 
own  ships  for  export  and  import  into  distant  seas  of  either 
hemisphere,  could  grow  up  having  its  principal  head- 
quarters in  an  inland  farming  town,  is  a  subject  on  which 


48 

we  all  know  something,  but  on  which  we  might  all  be 
glad  to  be  taught  by  some  such  master  of  economic  his- 
tory as  David  A.  Wells.  But  the  essential  fact  is  clear, 
that  the  country-store  of  Trumble,  Fitch  &  Trumble 
brought  its  proprietors  into  practical  acquaintance  with 
all  the  resources  of  the  country  and  their  relations  to  the 
trade  of  the  world.  Presently  his  position  as  Colonel 
of  a  regiment  of  Connecticut  militia  in  those  French  and 
Indian  wars  that  were  the  West  Point  in  which  our  Revo- 
lutionary officers  were  trained,  gave  him  occasion  to  study 
the  application  of  the  country's  resources  to  the  uses  of 
war.  Meanwhile  the  good,  old-fashioned  steady  habit, 
before  "  rotation  in  office  "  had  been  invented,  of  keeping 
a  good  officer  in  the  public  service  when  once  his  qualities 
had  been  proved,  was  exercising  Trumbull  successively 
in  legislative  and  judicial  functions  ;  for  successive  years 
he  held  the  seat  of  chief-justice  of  the  Commonwealth. 
His  education  was  becoming  complete.  He  became 
Governor  of  Connecticut  just  as  the  years  of  trial  were 
drawing  nigh  that  were  to  put  to  illustrious  use  for  the 
salvation  of  the  whole  American  nation,  all  his  judicial 
wisdom,  and  all  his  executive  sagacity  and  energy. 

It  is  easy  for  us  to  read  a  providential  purpose  in  those 
ill  winds  which  swept  from  the  sea  all  his  ships  in  a 
single  year,  and  brought  his  firm  to  bankruptcy.  They 
released  his  time  and  strength  from  private  cares,  that 
they  might  be  given  wholly  to  the  service  of  the  im- 
perilled country ;  and  they  vacated  the  old  country-store 
of  its  merchandise,  that  it  might  become,  practically,  and 
some  of  the  time  literally,  the  headquarters  of  the  com- 
missary department  of  the  United  States  during  the  War 
of  Independence. 

Let  me  not  attempt  to  tell  of  the  doings  imder  the 
roof  of  the  old  War  Office.  They  ought,  indeed,  to  be 
told  as  they  never  have  been.  Whoever  shall  write  the 
history  of  the  recruiting  and  the  commi.ssariat  of  the  Con- 
tinental army,  will  tell  the  story,  not  of  the  most  showy, 
but,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  of  the  most  arduous,  part  of 


49 

the  War  of  Independence.  When  it  came  to  this  anxious 
and  perplexing  work,  the  national  leaders  were  glad  to 
bethink  them  of  the  State  which  had  no  fiery  popular 
orator,  a  Sam  Adams  or  a  Patrick  Henry,  to  kindle 
the  general  patriotism,  because  it  had  no  function  for 
him ;  which  had  no  record  of  stormy  uprisings  or  do- 
mestic conflicts,  because  its  people  were  all  of  one  mind  ; 
which  had  no  petty  vice-regal  court  to  be  a  center  of 
tainting  influence  and  anti-patriotic  intrigue  ;  which  had 
no  battle-fields  to  show,  because  its  soil  was  so  intolerant 
of  hostile  feet  —  the  State  which  free  from  internal  dis- 
sension and  from  hostile  occupation  had,  as  no  other  had, 
both  the  power  and  the  will  to  give  its  entire  resources  of 
men  and  material  to  the  general  good.  This,  no  doubt, 
determined  the  appointment  to  the  office  of  Commissary- 
General  of  the  Continental  Army,  of  Governor  Trumbull's 
eldest  son  Joseph,  a  man  like-minded  with  his  father ; 
and  when  he  sank  under  its  exhausting  labors  and  crush- 
ing responsibilities,  as  truly  a  martyr  to  American  free- 
dom as  Warren  on  the  field  or  Nathan  Hale  on  the  scaf- 
fold, the  same  reason  called  for  the  appointment  of  an- 
other Connecticut  man  as  his  successor.  Col.  Wadsworth, 
and  required  him  to  come  from  Hartford  and  fix  his 
headquarters  here  hard  by  the  Governor's  house  and 
ofiice  in  Lebanon. 

One  may  read  in  Stuart's  Life  of  Trumbull  something 
of  the  details  of  the  business  that  was  done  in  the  old 
War  Office  —  the  ceaseless  and  tireless  meetings  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety  —  the  coming  and  going  of  couriers 
with  dispatches  to  and  from  Congress  and  the  generals 
and  the  Commander-in-chief  —  the  fitting-out  of  provis- 
ion-trains and  supplies  of  beef  upon  the  hoof  —  the  rais- 
ing of  recruits  for  the  dwindling  army  —  the  ordering  of 
militia  regiments  to  threatened  points  of  the  State 
frontier,  and  to  the  relief  of  neighbor  States  —  the 
equipping  and  commissioning  and  commanding  of  Con- 
necticut's adventurous  little  navy  —  the  councils  of  war 
and  of  state  there  held  with  Washington  and  other  Con- 

7 


5^> 

tinental  generals,  with  Rochambeati  and  the  Duke  de 
Lauzun  and  other  French  commanders,  military  and 
naval.  One  may  read  of  them  there,  and  in  some  other 
special  and  local  histories,  but  not,  I  am  bound  to  say  it, 
in  any  just  or  due  proportion,  in  the  general  histories  of 
the  war.  The  latest  of  these,  by  John  Fiske,  a  great 
man,  Connecticut-born,  a  man  who  knows  the  difference 
between  surface  and  substance,  between  the  pomp  and 
circumstance  of  war  and  the  hard,  steady  work  of  it,  and 
who  is  aware  that  an  army,  like  a  serpent,  moves  on  its 
belly,  tells  the  story  of  the  American  Revolution  in  two 
volumes,  and  (I  am  informed)  dispatches  the  part  done 
by  Jonathan  Trumbull  in  twelve  words. 

The  time  came,  in  the  course  of  the  struQ-grle,  when  it 
might  have  been  pardoned  to  the  infirmity  of  human 
nature  if  the  doubt  had  occurred  to  some  of  the  sons  of 
Connecticut  whether  the  magnificent  unselfishness  of 
her  course  had  not  been  overdone.  That  was  the  time 
when  the  British  war  policy  changed  from  one  of  hope, 
of  conciliation  mingled  with  severity,  to  a  policy  of 
desperation  and  destruction  and  ravage.  No  wonder 
that  the  State  whose  sons  were  found  in  arms  everywhere 
but  on  their  own  soil,  whose  hard-tilled  acres  furnished 
.so  largely  the  subsistence  and  whose  mines  and  mills 
furnished  the  equipment  of  the  Continental  forces, 
should  be  the  first  and  favorite  quarry  for  British  ven- 
geance. It  was  then  that  Norwalk  and  Fairfield  and 
New  Haven  went  up  in  smoke,  and  at  last,  when,  after 
coun.seling  with  Washington  over  the  plan  of  the  York- 
town  campaign,  the  French  troops  that  had  been  cantoned 
in  Lebanon  and  elsewhere,  with  all  that  Connecticut 
could  spare,  and  more,  of  her  last  remaining  forces,  had 
been  sent  far  south  for  the  final  struggle  of  the  war,  —  it 
was  then  that  the  fleet  bearing  "  traitor  Arnold  and  his 
murthering  crew  "  -  crept  through  the  Sound  on  its  mis- 

*  The  phrase  of  righteous  horror  and  detestation  that  is  inscribed  t)n 
scores  of  head-stones  in  various  cemeteries  of  Southeastern  "Connecticut, 
over  graves  of  victims  of  the  Groton  massacre. 


51 

sion  of  destruction  and  massacre  at  New   London    and 
Groton. 

The  Governor's  face  grew  sad, 

In  his  store  on  Lebanon  hill; 
He  reckoned  the  men  he  had; 

He  counted  the  forts  to  fill; 
He  traced  on  the  map  the  ground 

By  river,  and  harbor,  and  coast, — 
"  Ah,  where  shall  the  men  and  the  guns  be  found. 

Lest  the  State  be  lost  ? " 

The  brave  State's  sons  were  gone; 

On  many  a  field  they  lay; 
They  were  following  Washington, 

Afar  down  Yorktown  way; 
The  men  and  the  weapons  failed. 

They  were  gone  with  our  free  good-will; 
But  Jonathan  Trumbull  never  quailed. 

In  his  store  on  Lebanon  hill. 

There  was  New  London  fort. 

And  the  fort  on  Groton  Height, 
And  the  rich  and  crowded  port; 

But  where  were  the  men  to  fight  ? 
Might  it  not  be  we  had  erred 

To  care  for  our  homes  so  ill  ? 
Nay,  never  a  word  of  such  grudge  was  heard 

On  Lebanon  hill. 

Remember,  citizens,  and 

If  ever  the  ill  thought  comes 
To  reck  less  of  the  broad,  great  land. 

And  more  of  your  own  small  homes, 
Think  of  your  fathers'  dust; 

Think  of  their  brave  good-will. 
And  the  Puritan  Governor's  toil  and  trust 

On  Lebanon  hill.* 

If  there  were  time,  and  the  question  were  not 
rather  what  to  omit  than  what  to  say,  it  would  be  a  most 
interesting  matter  to  take  this  figure  of  Jonathan  Trum- 
bull, the  finest  and  most  perfect  type  of  the  Puritan 
magistrate  of   the  eighteenth  century,  and  study  it  in 


*  From  a  poem  recited  at  Groton,  on  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  massacre,  September  8,  1881. 


52 

comparison  and  contrast  with  other  typical  men  with 
whom  he  was  closely  associated. 

One  would  have  been  more  struck  with  the  points  of 
likeness  than  of  ditTerence  between  Trumbull,  son  of 
the  New  England  Puritans,  and  Washington,  son  of  the 
Virginian  Cavaliers,  as  they  met  for  the  first  time  at 
Colonel  Huntington's  house  in  Norwich. 

But  if  it  is  true  (I  find  no  evidence  or  probability  of 
it)  that  the  Governor  once  entertained  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son in  this  venerable  and  hospitable  mansion,  it  must 
have  been  by  a  supreme  effort  of  courtesy  and  policy  on 
both  sides  that  the  irreconcilable  contrariety  between 
the  theologian-governor  and  the  free-thinking  political 
doctrinaire  of  the  French  school  was  kept  from  breaking 
out  openly  —  as  it  did  indeed  break  out  in  sharp  words, 
on  a  later  occasion,  between  Jefferson  and  the  gover- 
nor's son  John,  the  painter,  a  man  who  rarely  erred  by 
excess  of  meekness.-  The  difference  is  most  vividly 
illustrated  in  two  memorable  papers  —  Jefferson's  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  of  July  4,  1776,  and  that 
solemn  proclamation  of  Governor  Trumbull  of  twenty 
days  earlier,  lately  discovered  by  the  keen  eye  of  Mr. 
Hoadly,  and  characterized,  perhaps  with  a  strained  use 
of  the  word,  as  "  the  Connecticut  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence." f  The  one  starts  with  an  enumeration  of 
self-evident  truths,  and  with  a  doctrine  of  human 
rights,  and  is  grounded  on  the  principles  of  the  contrat 
social  of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau.  The  other  begins 
with  the  creation  and  the  fall  of  man,  is  grounded  on 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  is  the  utterance  throughout  of 
a  lofty  and  noble  religious  faith.  Jefferson's  Declaration, 
accepted  as  the  voice  of  the  American  people,  is  famous 
through  the  world.  The  proclamation  of  Trumbull  has 
only  just  now  been  rescued  from  its  century  of  oblivion 
by  the  hand  of  the   patient    antiquary.      But  we   may 

*  The  incident  is  told  by  Cohjnel  J(jhn  in  his  interesting  volume  of  Remin- 
iscences, p.  171. 

+  See  Appendix,  p.  83. 


53 

safely  challenge  the  twentieth  century  to  pronounce  be- 
tween the  two  as  to  which  is  the  nobler,  more  solemnly 
eloquent  document,  and  the  worthier  of  the  great 
theme  which  is  common  to  them  both. 

A  contrast  even  more  antagonistic  would  be  that  be- 
tween Trumbull  and  the  faded-out,  apostate  Puritanism 
embodied  in  that  brilliant  soldier  from  the  next-neigh- 
bor town,  who  seemed  also  at  first  to  be  a  great  and 
generous  patriot,  Benedict  Arnold.  What  was  the  esti- 
mate of  Arnold,  from  the  beginning,  on  the  part  of  his 
own  native  State  and  its  governor,  is  seen  in  the  fact 
that  they  constantly  refused  to  trust  him.  He  never 
bore  a  Connecticut  commission.  His  titles  and  honors 
and  his  opportunities  of  treason  all  came  to  him  from 
other  States,  or  from  the  continental  authorities.  It  is 
to  the  honor  of  his  native  State  that  she  rejected  him, 
and  that  he  hated  her  in  return  with  a  malignant  hatred. 

But  a  contrast  as  startling  and  intense  as  the  canvas 
of  history  has  ever  exhibited  was  that  which  was  ex- 
hibited here  on  Lebanon  green  when  the  French  regi- 
ments lay  cantoned  here  in  winter  quarters.  Where,  in 
American  history  at  least,  could  such  subjects  be  found 
for  romance,  or  for  the  pencil  of  the  historical  painter  ? 
These  representatives  of  the  gayest,  most  brilliant, 
most  corrupt  and  vicious  court  in  Europe,  what  kind  of 
figure  did  they  make  in  the  midst  of  the  severe  sim- 
plicity of  old  Lebanon?  We  are  not  without  some 
record  of  their  impressions,  in  the  journal  of  the  Count 
de  Rochambeau  and  the  travels  of  the  Marquis  de 
Chastellux.  But  the  contrast  between  the  foremost 
personage  among  the  Frenchmen  here,  the  gay  Duke 
de  Lauzun,  who  made  his  headquarters  at  the  house  of 
David  Trumbull,  and  the  serious,  precise  figure  of  the 
governor  is  drawn  already  to  our  hand  by  the  graceful 
pencil  of  Donald  Mitchell. 

"  And  what  a  contrast  it  is  —  this  gay  nobleman, 
carved  out,  as  it  were,  from  the  dissolute  age  of  Louis 
XV.,  who  had  sauntered  under  the  colonnades  of   the 


54 

Trianon,  and  had  kissed  the  hand  of  the  Pompadour, 
now  struttinor  amongr  the  staid  dames  of  Norwich  and  of 
Lebanon  !  How  they  must  have  looked  at  him  and  his 
fine  troopers  from  under  their  knitted  hoods !  You 
know,  I  suppose,  his  after  history  ;  how  he  went  back  to 
Paris,  and  among  the  wits  there  was  wont  to  mimic  the 
way  in  which  the  stiff  old  Connecticut  governor  had 
said  grace  at  his  table.  Ah !  he  did  not  know  that  in 
Governor  Trumbull,  and  all  such  men,  is  the  material  to 
found  an  enduring  state ;  and  in  himself,  and  all  such 
men,  only  the  inflammable  material  to  burn  one  down. 
There  is  a  life  written  of  Governor  Trumbull,  and  there 
is  a  life  written  of  the  Marquis  [duke]  of  Lauzun.  The 
first  is  full  of  deeds  of  quiet  heroism,  ending  with  a 
tranquil  and  triumphant  death  ;  the  other  is  full  of  the 
rankest  gallantries,  and  ends  with  a  little  spurt  of  blood 
under  the  knife  of  the  guillotine  upon  the  gay  Place  de 
la  Concorde."  " 

This  is  an  occasion  when  the  orator  cannot  comfort 
himself  with  the  rhetorical  maxim  that  "  no  one  knows 
the  good  things  that  you  leave  out,"  for  every  one 
knows  them,  and  judges  the  speaker  for  his  sins  of 
omission.  We  cannot  say  all  that  ought  to  be  said,  but 
we  must  not  stop  at  such  a  point  as  to  leave  the  impres- 
sion that  "the  glory  of  Lebanon"  ceased  when  that 
stately  cedar  fell  —  the  first  Governor  Trumbull.  There 
was  a  goodly  forest  of  Lebanon  in  other  names  beside 
that  of  Trumbull.  But  in  that  one  stock  the  names  of 
the  second  governor  and  the  third  governor  show  the 
divine  law  of  heredity  working  with  the  promise  of 
the  divine  covenant  to  children's  children ;  and  show 
this  democratic  people,  so  ready  to  prune  off  and  fling 
into  the  Gehenna-heap  any  degenerate  scion,  even  of 
the  noblest  parentage,  that  sinks  himself  down  to  general 
worthlessness  and  baccarat,  are  not  ungenerous,  as  other 
names,  like  vv'inthn^p  and  Adams  and  Harrison,  have 
proved,  to  honor  ancestral  virtues  fitly  worn  by  worthy 


*  Speech  at  the  Norwich  Jubilee,  1859. 


55 

sons.  And  this  day  reminds  us  that  if  Connecticut 
should  seek  in  the  old  stock  for  the  old  vStyle  of  Christian 
probity  and  faithful  citizenship  with  which  to  dignify 
her  list  of  worthies  by  adding  to  it  the  title  of  a  new 
Brother  Jonathan,  a  Governor  Trumbull  the  Fourth,  she 
need  not  seek  in  vain. 

There  is  another  line  of  pedigree,  too,  down  which 
the  influence  of  the  great  names  and  examples  of  the 
Lebanon  heroes  has  descended.  It  is  a  line  not  always 
as  easy  to  be  traced  as  that  of  natural  genealogy,  but  it 
is  sometimes  clear  enough.  There  is  the  story,  for  in- 
stance, of  the  country  boy  who  grew  up  in  this  old  town 
some  fourscore  years  ago,  where,  in  the  vast  ampli- 
tude of  the  town  street,  he  marked  the  traces  of  the  old 
French  camp,  and  where  every  house  was  inhabited 
with  heroic  memories  and  traditions.  I  love  to  imae:- 
ine  the  handsome  little  fellow  wandering  thoughtfully 
among  the  gravestones  in  the  old  burying-ground,  that 
tell  of  holy  ministers,  and  brave  soldiers,  and  upright  cit- 
izens, and  pausing  to  read  the  four  inscriptions  on  the 
Trumbull  monument,  recording  the  career  of  one  who, 
by  the  force  and  dignity  of  his  character,  rose  from  pri- 
vate station  to  be  the  foremost  man  in  all  the  common- 
wealth, and,  next  to  Washington  himself,  the  chief  pro- 
moter of  his  country's  liberty.  I  love  to  imagine  how 
that  shining  example  of  a  Christian  patriot  dwelt  in  the 
young  man's  mind  when  he  had  removed  from  ancestral 
Lebanon  to  Norwich  for  the  beginning  of  his  fair  ca- 
reer ;  and  how,  in  the  midst  of  daily  duties  in  counting- 
room  and  church  and  municipal  business,  the  lineaments 
of  that  heroic  Puritan  character  unconsciously  repro- 
duced themselves  in  his  mind  ;  and  as  great  events  went 
on,  and  lifted  him  as  by  a  rising  tide  into  the  highest 
station  in  the  State,  history  for  once  consented  to  repeat 
itself,  and  to  complete  that  impressive  parallel  on  which 
later  historians  of  Connecticut  will  delight  to  dwell,  be- 
tween the  great  War  Governor  of  the  War  for  Inde- 
pendence, and  the  great  War  Governor  of  the  War  for 
the  Union  and  the  Constitution. 


56 

We  want  to  see  the  bright  succession  perpetuated 
along-  tills  line  of  descent  to  all  generations.  Let  this  be 
a  result  of  our  gathering  here  to-day  to  hoist  the  old 
flag  again  over  the  old  War  Office  now  secured  by  the 
patriotic  gift  of  its  venerable  owner  as  a  lasting  monu- 
ment of  the  great  deeds  it  has  witnessed.  Let  it  not  be 
said  that  the  fair  and  fertile  acres  of  this  ancient  town- 
ship have  lost  their  old  quality  and  become  sterile  of 
great  men.  To  this  end,  citizens  of  Lebanon,  let  not 
this  stir  of  patriotic  feeling  end  with  the  jubilation  of 
to-day.  Let  it  enter  into  the  education  of  your  children. 
Let  it  be  settled  that  in  your  common  schools  the  study 
of  American  history  begins  with  the  history  of  Lebanon, 
the  object-lessons  of  which  are  about  them  on  every  side. 
Let  the  great  families  sprung  from  this  soil,  but  all  re- 
moved from  it  without  leaving  a  representative  behind 
them  —  the  se-cedars  of  Lebanon,  as  they  might  be 
called  —  families  illustrated  everywhere  in  the  land 
except  here,  in  the  highest  stations  of  church  and  state 
—  be  called  upon  to  "remember  the  hole  of  the  pit 
whence  they  were  digged,"  and  to  provide  liberally  that 
the  great  deeds  here  enacted  by  the  sires  shall  be  so 
worthily  commemorated  as  to  reflect  honor  instead  of 
discredit  on  the  scattered  descendants.  Let  it  be  their 
task  —  it  is  not  conceivable  that  they  should  decline  it  — 
to  provide  that  the  old  bur3dng-ground  where  their  fath- 
ers lie,  instead  of  being,  as  now,  with  its  tumbling  mon- 
uments and  overgrown  epitaphs,  a  very  emblem  of  neg- 
lect and  sheer  oblivion,  shall  show  the  proofs  of  pious 
and  reverent  care.  It  will  do  them  good,  as  well  as  you 
and  your  children.  But  the  best  of  the  work  and  of  its 
fruits  will  be  with  you  of  the  Lebanon  of  to-day,  to 
whose  faithful  custody  this  sacred  charge  of  the  graves 
of  saints  and  heroes  is  of  necessity  personally  committed. 

"Guard  well  your  trust, 
The  truth  that  made  them  free, 
The  faith  that  dared  the  sea, 
Their  cherished  purity, 

Their  garnered  dust." 


57 

The  President :  This  occasion  has  been  honored  by 
many  expressions  from  invited  guests,  some  of  whom 
have  sent  to  us  expressions  of  interest  and  of  patriotic 
sentiment  which  should  be  heard  now.  I  will  ask  our  vice- 
president,  the  Hon.  E.  J.  Hill,  to  read  such  extracts  from 
these  letters  as  we  have  been  able  to  select  for  the  limited 
time  which  we  can  devote  to  that  purpose. 

The  Vice-President  :  I  will  first  read  a  letter  from 
the  Hon.  Levi  P.  Morton,  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States  : 

"  Rhinecliff,  N.  Y.,  June  9,  1891. 

"  Dear  Sir  :  I  regret  very  much  that  a  previous  en- 
gagement makes  it  impossible  for  me  to  accept  your 
kind  invitation  to  be  present  on  the  occasion  of  the 
transfer  of  the  Lebanon  War  Office  to  your  Society,  and 
the  commemoration  of  the  adoption  of  our  National  flag. 
The  event  is  one  in  which  I  take  much  interest,  and 
would  much  like  to  attend. 

"  Very  truly  yours,  L.  P.  Morton." 

The  Minister  of  France  writes  : 

"  I  beg  to  assure  you  that  I  sincerely  appreciate  the 
thought  which  has  prompted  your  kind  invitation,  and 
in  reply,  to  express  my  regret  that  a  previous  engage- 
ment will  prevent  me  from  being  in  your  midst  next 
week. 

"  Respectfully  yours,  Th.  Roustan, 

French  Minister y 

The  Hon.  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  ex-Secretary  of  State : 
"  I  regret  that  engagements  already  made  will  pre- 
vent my  leaving  home  on  the  day  appointed  (the  15  th 
inst.).     I  should  have  felt  deep  interest  in  the  locality  of 
your  meeting,  and  the  object." 

The  Hon.  William  Wirt  Henry  : 

"  I  congratulate  the  Connecticut  Society  on  its  auspi- 
cious beginning,  and  trust  it  may  be  a  potent  agent  in 


58 

keeping   fresh   the   memories  of  our  glorious   Revolu- 
tion." 

Mr.  Frederick  S.  Tallmadge,  President  of  the  New 
York  Society  of  Sons  of  the  Revolution  : 

"  So  long  as  our  Societies  live  and  prosper  under  the 
protection  of  the  flag  with  thirteen  stars,  so  long 
our  pride  and  patriotism  will  know  no  bounds." 

Mr.  Paul  Revere  of  the  New  Jersey  Society  : 
"  Permit  me  to  congratulate  you  on  your  acquiring  so 
interesting  a  memorial  of  the  Revolution,  and  to  wish 
you  every  pleasure  in  celebrating  its  acquirement   and 
the  anniversary  of  the  adoption  of  our  national  flag." 

Hon.  Lyman  Trumbull  of  Chicago  : 

"  I  am  much  gratified  to  witness  the  renewed  interest 
which,  of  late  years,  seems  to  be  taken  by  the  present 
generation  in  tracing  their  origin  back  to  the  heroes 
of  the  Revolution,  and  in  commemorating  the  important 
events  of  that  most  interesting  period  in  our  country's 
history.  It  serves  to  keep  alive  that  spirit  of  patriotism 
which  animated  our  forefathers  in  securing  our  inde- 
pendence as  a  nation,  and  establishing  a  government 
based  upon  the  liberty  and  equality  of  all  its  inhab- 
itants." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Everett  Hale  : 

"  The  occasion  interests  me  much,  and  there  is  no 
place  which  I  wish  to  see  more.  I  take  great  interest  in 
the  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  I  am  theoretically  con- 
nected with  them  here,  but  know  a  great  deal  more 
of  their  work  at  the  West.  There,  their  men  have  been 
the  central  men  in  what  I  call  the  education  for 
patriotism,  —  a  thing  vastly  important  there  or  here." 

Mr.  William  G.  Hamilton  of  New  York: 
"  Knowing  how  well  your  wSociety  will  care  for  and 
preserve  this  historic  building,  which  so  nobly  links  the 


59 

past  with  the  present,  this  event  will  have  a  most  salu- 
tary effect  in  re-arousing  patriotic  sentiments,  and  do 
much  good  to  the  cause  of  the  vSons  of  the  Revolution," 

Hon.  Champion  S.  Chase,  Omaha,  Neb. : 
"  Here's  to  Connecticut,  a  State  whose  patriotic  sons 
do  not  forget  to  celebrate  the  victories  of  her  fathers, 
achieved  on  many  a  battlefield,  when  America  was  first 
saved  for  Americans." 

A  telegram  received  to-day  from  Mr.  John  W.  Bu- 
chanan, Secretary  of  the  Kentucky  Society : 

"  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  of  Kentucky 
greet  you  and  give  three  cheers  for  the  flag  with  thirteen 
stars.  We  are  as  heartily  with  you  to-day  as  were  our 
forefathers  with  yours  an  hundred  years  ago,  when  they 

'  Their  flag  to  April's  breeze  unfurled, 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world." 

Dr.  Daniel  C.  Oilman,  President  of  the  Johns  Hop- 
kins University,  and  a  member  of  the  Connecticut 
Society,  writes : 

"  If  I  were  free,  it  would  give  me  the  greatest  pleasure 
to  accept  the  invitation  for  June  15th,  but  I  am  detained 
here  by  the  fact  that  our  session  closes  on  that  very  day, 
and  it  would  be  quite  unworthy  for  a  Son  of  the  Revo- 
lution to  be  absent  from  his  post  at  the  time  of  an 
important  engagement." 

A  telegram  from  the  Hon.  William  D.  Cabell  of 
Washington  : 

"  Heartfelt  congratulations  !  The  Sons  of  the  District 
rejoice  with  you." 

A  telegram  from  Mr.  J.  C.  Pampelly  of  the  New 
Jersey  Society  : 

"  Present  this  sentiment :  Our  national  flag.  May  its 
red,  white,  and  blue  be  to  the  Sons  a  perpetual  incite- 


6o 

ment  to  courage  of  conviction,  purity  of   purpose,  and 
unswerving  vigilance." 

Hon.  Edwin  »S.  Barrett,  President  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Society,  writes : 

"  Connecticut,  ever  the  ally  of  Massachusetts  in  the 
Revolution,  is  kindly  remembered  when  she  celebrates 
her  historic  events." 

Hon.  Nathanael  Greene,  President  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Society  of  the  Cincinnati : 

"  You  have  my  best  wishes  that  the  occasion  may  be 
an  enjoyable  one,  and  that  it  may  help  to  preserve  in  the 
memory  of  the  American  people  the  inestimable  privi- 
leges we  inherit  from  our  illustrious  fathers  of  the  Revo- 
lution." 

Hon.  Albert  Edgerton,  President  of  the  Minnesota 
Society,  S.  A.  R. : 

"  I  am  rejoiced  that  an  old  landmark  around  which 
cluster  such  interesting  memories  of  events  of  mighty 
importance,  is  to  become  the  property  of  your  Society, 
to  be  sacredly  guarded,  and  kept  as  a  beacon  light  for 
posterity." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  John  P.  Gulliver  of  Andover,  Mass.  : 
"  I  can  only  express  to  you  personally  my  high  appre- 
ciation of  the  work  your  Society  has  undertaken  in 
regard  to  the  memorabilia  of  the  Revolutionary  period. 
Any  service,  however  trivial,  which  this  generation  can 
render,  will  increase  in  value  as  the  years  roll  on." 

The  Right  Reverend  Frederick  D.  Huntington  of 
Syracuse,  New  York : 

"  From  my  father  and  resident  relatives  I  have 
almost  all  my  life  been  receiving  information  about  the 
history  and  inhabitants  of  Lebanon,  both  orally  and  in 
writing,  and  I  have  come  to  feel  an  attachment  for 
its  soil  and  scenery." 


6i 

Letters  of  regret  had  also  been  received  from  Hon. 
Redfield  Proctor,  Secretary  of  War,  President  Charles 
W.  Eliot  of  Harvard,  Dr.  William  Seward  Webb,  Presi- 
dent-General of  the  National  Society  S.  A.  R.,  Major 
Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  Secretary-General  of  the  Society  of 
the  Cincinnati,  Mrs.  Flora  Adams  Darling-  of  the  Daugh- 
ters of  the  Revolution,  General  Alexander  S.  Webb,  Mr. 
Charles  H.  Woodruff,  General  William  S.  Stryker, 
President  E.  B.  Andrews  of  Brown  University,  Dr. 
Henry  A.  Coit  of  St.  Paul's  School,  Mr.  Richard  M.  Cad- 
walader,  President  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society  wS.  R., 
General  William  B.  Franklin,  Hon.  John  Whitehead, 
President  of  the  New  Jersey  Society  S.  A.  R.,  Mr.  Fred- 
erick Van  Lennep  of  New  York,  Mr.  James  M.  Mont- 
gomery, Mr.  Clarence  W.  Bowen,  Mr.  R.  Fulton  Ludlow, 
Mr.  Henry  E.  Turner,  Vice-President  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Cincinnati,  Mr.  G.  Washington  Ball,  nearest 
lineal  male  descendant  of  George  Washington,  President 
Timothy  Dwight  of  Yale,  Mr.  Luther  L.  Tarbell,  and 
the  Hon.  William  H.  Arnoux. 

After  the  celebration,  letters  were  received  from  Ex- 
President  Grover  Cleveland,  Ex-Minister  Edward  J. 
Phelps,  and  the  Right  Reverend  Charles  E.  Cheney,  all 
of  whom,  owing  to  absence  from  home,  were  unable  to 
reply  to  their  invitations  at  the  time  of  their  receipt. 
These  letters  all  express  deep  interest  in  the  occasion, 
and  full  sympathy  with  its  objects. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  reading  of  the  letters,  the 
President  called  upon  the  Hon.  Charles  A.  Russell, 
Member  of  Congress  for  the  Third  Connecticut  District, 
in  which  the  town  of  Lebanon  and  the  War  Office 
are  located.  After  repeated  calls  from  the  audience,  Mr. 
Russell  appeared  at  the  front  of  the  platform,  declining 
to  make  a  formal  address,  and  greeting  the  audience 
substantially  as  follows : 


62 

ADDRESS  OF  HON.  CHARLES  A.  RUSSELL. 

Mr.    President,    Sons    of    the    American    Revolutio)i,    Kind 

Friends  of  Lebanon  : 

It  was  my  expectation  to  attest  interest  and  pleasure 
on  this  occasion  by  my  presence  rather  than  by  my 
utterance.  And  at  this  closing  hour  of  a  most  delight- 
ful day  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  this  splendid  gather- 
ing has  been  sufficiently  enthused  by  the  glorious 
memorials  of  the  past,  and  by  the  stirring  eloquence  of 
those  who  have  already  spoken.  I  judge  that  we  all  are 
about  ready  to  join  in  singing  with  patriotic  spirit,  and 
with  fervent  thanksgiving,  "  Our  Country,  'tis  of  thee," 
as  a  fitting  close  to  the  exercises  of  the  day,  and  then  to 
go  home  with  the  inspiration  and  the  assurance  of 
another  century  of  prosperous  nationality  looming  be- 
fore us.  At  any  rate,  I  am  not  disposed  to  extend  the 
programme  beyond  the  opportunity  of  offering  greeting 
to  all  who  have  in  any  way  planned  and  carried  forward 
this  object  lesson  of  grand  American  history,  and  ex- 
pressing satisfaction  at  the  pleasant  and  perfect  result  of 
their  work. 

Yet  I  have  one  thought  which  I  would  briefly  give  to 
you.  As  I  came  on  to  this  Lebanon  common  to-day  a 
worthy  citizen  of  the  town  said  to  me :  "  This  is  a  day 
when  we  pick  up  the  history  of  our  old  backwoods  coun- 
try towns  in  New  England,  and  introduce  history  and 
town  to  the  country."  There  was  a  world  of  meaning 
in  that  remark,  and  it  struck  me  as  mighty  fortunate  for 
the  country  to  have  such  introduction  now  and  then. 
I  believe  it  well  for  the  Republic  at  large  to  form  ac- 
quaintance with  the  history  and  character  of  its  "  coun- 
try towns."  They  are  now,  as  in  the  past,  the  stiff  back- 
bone of  the  nation.  They  possess,  in  most  unadul- 
terated form,  the  sturdy  character  and  reliable  action  of 
a  free  populace  in  a  free  country.  They  have  never 
been  wanting  in  all  the  trials  of  our  nationality,  and 
they  have  stood  stolidly  for  good  government  and  good 


63 

citizenship.  There  can  no  great  harm  come  to  our  be- 
loved institutions  and  our  fair  land  while  these  "  country- 
towns  "  preserve  their  pristine  virtues,  and  continue  to 
furnish  true  men  and  noble  women  from  the  farms  to 
build  up  the  firesides  of  homes  all  over  the  country. 
So  I  rejoice  at  this  chance  which  introduces  Lebanon  in 
its  history  and  present  worth  to  the  country.  The 
nation  will  learn  that  it  has  not  yet  exhausted  its  rich 
deposit  of  loyal  strength  and  patriotic  progress  on  Leba- 
non hills.     [Applause.] 

And  taking  example  from  this  occasion,  and  from  the 
Connecticut  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution, and  from  the  good  town  of  Lebanon,  I  hope  for 
more  and  more  such  introductions  of  "  country  towns  " 
to  our  general  populace.  And  to  the  end  that  our  chil- 
dren and  youth  may  know  the  better  of  our  history,  and 
our  citizenship  may  trust  the  better  to  its  power,  I  urge 
a  wider  acquaintance  with  the  character  of  the  sturdy 
yeomanry  of  "  the  country  town."  This  occasion  has 
especially  directed  attention  to  the  Lebanon  patriots, 
and  I  look  forward  to  the  near  future  when  nation  or 
state  shall  erect  suitable  memorials  at  the  tombs  of 
Lebanon  patriots.     [Applause.] 


64 

The  President :  Twenty-nine  years  ago  a  bill  was  in- 
troduced in  Congress,  and  eloquently  advocated  by  a  son 
of  Connecticut,  providing  for  the  observance  of  the  anni- 
versary of  the  adoption  of  our  national  flag.  In  the 
stirring  legislation  of  those  troublous  times  of  1862  the 
bill  was  laid  upon  that  convenient  and  capacious  piece 
of  congressional  furniture,  the  table,  and  has  there  re- 
mained, badly  "  snowed  under,"  ever  since.  Its  cham- 
pion, to  whom  I  have  referred,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Dwight 
Loomis,  has  honored  us  with  his  presence  to-day.  We 
had  hoped  that  he  could  remain  long  enough  to  take  the 
flag-day  bill  from  the  table  on  this  occasion,  but  since  he 
has  been  obliged  to  leave  us,  let  me  pass  that  duty  to 
the  originator  of  the  movement,  Mr.  Jonathan  F.  ]\Ior- 
ris,  w^hose  untiring  interest  in  the  matter  and  whose 
earnest  efforts  in  promoting  the  movement  fit  him  pecu- 
liarly to  speak  on  this  subject. 

Mr.  Morris  spoke  as  follows : 

MR.  JONATHAN    F.  MORRIS'S  ADDRESS. 

Ladies  and  Gentlejiien,  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  and 
Fellozu  Members  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society  : 

I  very  much  regret  the  absence  of  Judge  Loomis,  who 
was  expected  to  address  you  on  the  topic  on  which  I  am 
called  to  speak,  for  he  would  have  much  better  discharged 
this  duty  than  I,  especially  in  regard  to  the  action  of  Con- 
gress twenty-nine  years  ago,  to  which  President  Trumbull 
has  referred. 

President  Trumbull  has  introduced  me  as  the  origi- 
nator of  "  Flag  Day."  I  should  be  very  proud  indeed  if  I 
were  entirely  worthy  of  such  distinction,  for  while  it  is 
true  that  I  perhaps  did  make  the  first  suggestion  in  re- 
gard to  the  observance  of  the  day,  I  was  not  alone  in 
bringing  the  matter  to  public  attention. 

I  am  asked  to  give  you  the  history  of  "  Flag  Day," 
which  originated  just  thirty  years  ago.  Thirty  years 
ago!     How  rapidly  have  the  years  sped  away!    What 


65 

mighty  changes  have  those  thirty  years  wrought  in  the 
world's  history !  What  changes  in  our  own  land  !  Thirty 
years  ago  the  nation  was  in  the  first  throes  of  a  civil  war. 
I  need  not  recount  to  you  the  events  of  that  war ;  they 
are  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  every  one  in  middle  life. 
I  need  only  to  recall  to  your  recollection  its  early  days. 
You  remember  the  secession  of  several  States  from  the 
Union ;  the  rejection  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Republic 
and  its  authority  by  their  inhabitants.  You  remember 
how  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  pulled  down,  cast  aside, 
and  trodden  in  the  dust  as  "  a  detested  rag."  You  re- 
member the  beleaguered  fortress  in  Charleston  harbor, 
and  its  nearly  starving  garrison.  You  remember  that 
dismal  night  and  that  eventful  day,  April  12,  1 861,  when, 
with  the  break  of  day,  a  shot  was  fired  from  a  battery  on 
James  Island  on  the  flag  on  Fort  Sumter.  You  remem- 
ber the  exciting  days  which  followed ;  the  call  to  arms 
by  President  Lincoln ;  the  rising  of  the  people ;  the  rally- 
ing of  the  troops  for  the  defense  of  the  Union ;  the  spon- 
taneous and  universal  raising  of  flags.  How  from  mast 
and  spire,  from  tower  and  turret,  from  private  houses 
and  public  buildings,  the  flag  was  flung  to  the  breeze. 
Never  before  in  all  its  history  had  it  been  so  displayed. 
Banners  were  everywhere. 

"  Banners  from  balcony,  banners  from  the  steeple. 
Banners  from  house  to  house,  draping  the  people; 
Banners  upborne  by  all,  men,  women,  and  children. 
Banners  on  hoi'ses'  fronts,  flashing,  bewildering." 

Indeed,  with  the  revival  of  patriotism  there  seemed  a 
baptism  of  flags.  In  these  exciting  days  the  Union  Army 
gathered  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  and  before  the 
end  of  May  fifty  thousand  men  were  waiting  and  watch- 
ing the  foe  which  menaced  Washington.  Among  the 
soldiers  from  Connecticut  was  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  to 
whose  patriotic  address  you  have  listened  to-day.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  rebellion  he  was  the  editor  of  the  Hart- 
ford Evening  Press.  On  receiving  the  news  of  the  Presi- 
dent's call  for  troops,  he  dropped  his  pen,  and  leaving  his 
9 


66 

paper  in  the  hands  of  his  friend  and  college  classmate, 
Mr.  Charles  Dudley  Warner,  he  hastened  to  offer  his  ser- 
vices to  Governor  Buckingham  as  the  first  volunteer  from 
Connecticut  in  defense  of  the  flag  and  the  Union.  I  was 
wont,  as  were  many  others  in  those  stirring  times,  to 
visit  the  newspaper  offices  in  quest  of  news.  On  one  of 
the  early  days  of  June,  when  in  the  office  of  the  Press, 
and  in  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Warner,  it  occurred  to  me 
that  the  birthday  anniversary  of  the  flag  was  near.  I 
suggested  to  Mr.  Warner  the  propriety  of  celebrating  the 
day  by  public  demonstration.  He  at  once  fell  in  with  the 
idea.  I  said  the  flag  and  the  Constitution  were  both  on 
trial,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  every  loyal  man  to  sustain 
them.  Mr.  Warner  said  he  would  write  an  article  on  the 
subject,  and  he  did  so  in  an  editorial  in  the  Press  of  the 
8th  of  June,  in  which  he  advocated  the  establishment  of 
the  14th  day  of  June  and  the  17th  day  of  September  as 
national  holidays,  the  one  to  be  known  as  "  Flag  Day," 
the  other  as  "  Constitution  Day." 

We  talked  of  the  manner  in  which  these  days  should 
be  celebrated.  We  said  we  would  leave  the  snap  of  the 
firecracker,  the  crack  of  the  musket,  the  roar  of  cannon, 
and  all  the  noise  and  racket  which  characterizes  the 
Fourth  of  July  to  "Independence  Day."  Our  "Flag  Day" 
should  be  quiet.  It  would  come  at  a  season  of  the  year 
when  nature  is  rich  in  foliage  and  bloom,  and  when  time 
is  most  enjoyable  for  out-of-door  pleasures,  and  so  parties, 
picnics,  excursions  should  form  part  of  the  pleasures  of 
the  day.  It  should  be  a  day  of  banners  and  decorations, 
but  above  and  more  beautiful  than  all  should  wave  the 
vStars  and  Stripes  of  the  Union.  We  said  we  would  deco- 
rate our  persons,  our  houses,  and  everything  with  flowers ; 
that  the  world  should  bloom  with  beauty  and  be  filled 
with  fragrance.  We  said  we  would  crown  youth  and  old 
age  with  garlands,  and  every  face  should  be  radiant  with 
joy.  We  said  that  night  should  be  aglow  with  the  can- 
dle, the  rocket,  and  the  gleam  of  the  tinted  lantern,  and 
then  when  the  festive  day  was  over,  we  would  go  to  our 


67 

rest  amidst  sweet  slumbers  and  dreams  of  Arcadian  days. 
Such  was  our  early  idea  of  "  Flag  Day."  Mr.  Warner's 
suggestion  for  the  observance  of  the  day  was  well  taken 
by  the  citizens  of  Hartford.  There  was  a  very  general 
display  of  flags  and  decorations,  —  the  "red,  white,  and 
blue  "  was  displayed  everywhere  :  from  shops  and  houses ; 
the  dry  goods  stores  vied  with  each  other  in  their  efforts 
at  decoration.  Other  cities  and  towns  had  their  celebra- 
tions also. 

I  do  not  know  what  was  done  here  in  Old  Lebanon, 
but  I  know  that  your  neighbors  in  Columbia  did  celebrate 
the  day.  The  custom  was  kept  up  in  more  or  less  degree 
for  some  time,  but  with  the  exception  of  the  display  of 
flags  there  has  been  but  little  attempt  to  celebrate  other- 
wise. A  year  passed  away,  and  by  June,  1862,  the  flag 
which  had  been  deserted,  pulled  down,  and  disgraced  in 
several  of  the  States  was  again  raised  in  them,  and  the 
authority  of  the  Union  partially  restored.  Early  in  this 
month  I  wrote  to  Hon,  Dwight  Loomis,  then  a  member 
of  Congress  from  this  vState,  asking  him  to  introduce  in 
Congress  a  resolution  for  the  observance  of  "  Flag  Day  " 
as  a  national  holiday,  to  embrace  "  Constitution  Day " 
also.  He  readily  complied  with  my  request.  I  very 
much  regret  that  I  am  left  to  tell  this  story  of  Congres- 
sional action.  I  hoped  that  Judge  Loomis  would  have 
remained  to  tell  it  himself,  but  on  account  of  the  lateness 
of  the  hour  he  has  been  obliged  to  leave.  Mr.  Loomis 
introduced  the  following  joint  resolution  on  the  12th  of 
June,  and  it  was  taken  up  in  the  order  of  business  on 
the  13th: 

"  Whereas,  The  Continental  Congress,  on  the  14th  day 
of  June,  1777,  adopted  the  present  flag  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  convention  for  the  formation  of  a 
Constitution  for  the  United  States,  on  the  17th  day 
of  September,  1787,  adopted  our  present  Constitu- 
tion ;  and  whereas,  that  Constitution  and  flag,  dear 
to  us  as  the  organic  law  and  symbol  of  the  Union 


68 

wtich  our  fathers  established,  and  which  we  have  so 
long  loved,  have  become  more  endeared  to  us  by  the 
toils  and  sacrifices  which  we  are  at  this  day  called 
upon  to  undergo,  and  which  we  cheerfully  accept,  to 
preserve  our  national  existence  and  the  union  of 
States ;  and  whereas  we  desire,  by  an  annual  com- 
memoration, to  express  our  affection  for  our  Consti- 
tution and  flag,  and  to  teach  that  affection  to  after 
generations  ;  therefore, 

"  Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled.  That 
we  recommend  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  ob- 
serve the  14th  day  of  June  and  the  17th  day  of  Septem- 
ber in  each  year  as  national  holidays  —  the  first  to  be 
known  as  Flag  Day,  and  the  latter  as  Constitution  Day." 
Speaking  on  this  resolution,  IMr.  Loomis  said  he 
offered  it  in  good  faith,  believing  that  its  adoption  would 
do  good ;  that  it  was  worthy  of  the  sanction  of  the 
House,  and  would  meet  with  hearty  response  from  loyal 
hearts  throughout  the  land.  If  adopted,  we  should 
have  three  patriotic  days  commemorative  of  three  im- 
portant events  in  our  national  history  —  Independence 
Day,  Flag  Day,  and  Constitution  Day  —  the  first  to  com- 
memorate the  anniversary  of  our  national  independence  ; 
the  second  to  commemorate  the  birthday  of  the  national 
flag,  for  it  was  on  the  14th  day  of  June  that  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  passed  the  resolution  creating  the  flag, 
which  resolution  was : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  flag  of  the  United  States  be  thir- 
teen stripes,  alternately  red  and  white,  and  that  the 
Union  be  thirteen  stars,  white  on  a  blue  field,  represent- 
ing a  new  constellation." 

The  third  holiday  —  the  1 7th  of  September  —  would 
commemorate  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  These 
holidays,  Mr.  Loomis  said,  would  be  none  too  many ; 
that,  indeed,  we  had  too  few.  The  days  named  were 
worthy  of  commemoration.  The  glorious  memories  of 
the  past,  and  the  contest  for  the  preservation    of    the 


69 

Union  and  Constitution  united  in  rendering  the  days 
doubly  dear  through  all  future  time  to  the  American 
people.  Mr,  Looinis  spoke  with  great  eloquence  and 
earnestness,  and  as  no  one  desired  to  speak  on  the  sub- 
ject, he  called  the  previous  question.  One  would  have 
supposed  that  the  resolution,  offered  in  good  faith  and 
in  such  patriotic  spirit,  in  a  time  when  both  flag  and  con- 
stitution were  undergoing  the  severest  trial,  would  have 
been  received  without  cavil  or  ridicule ;  that  it  would 
have  been  welcomed  as  a  stimulant  to  the  cause  of  the 
Union.  How  was  it  received?  Mr.  Thomas  of  Massa- 
chusetts suggested  that  the  celebration  of  the  17th  of 
September  be  funeral  services  of  the  Constitution  ;  Mr. 
Hutchins  of  Ohio  suggested  that  it  be  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Judiciary.  Mr.  Thomas  suggested  it  be 
referred  to  the  special  committee  on  the  bankrupt  law. 
Mr.  Mallory  of  Kentucky  thought  it  ought  to  go  to  the 
special  cominittee  on  emancipation.  Mr.  E.  B.  Wash- 
burne  of  Illinois  was  opposed  to  any  more  holidays,  and 
moved  to  lay  the  resolution  on  the  table.  The  question 
was  taken,  and  there  was,  on  a  division :  Ayes  67,  noes 
33.  So  the  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table.  Such  was 
the  temper  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  such 
was  the  fate  of  "  Flag  Day  "  in  that  Congress.  They 
thought  it  was  a  sentimental  thing  unworthy  of  the 
notice  and  favor  of  practical  men.  Then  they  wanted 
no  more  holidays.  There  was  one  holiday  —  the  Fourth 
of  July  —  that  was  enough  for  the  people.  Only  Con- 
gress needs  holidays.  We  know  that  the  average  Con- 
gressman always  takes  a  holiday  for  a  fortnight  at 
Christmas,  and  then  as  much  more  just  before  election 
to  go  home  for  the  purpose  of  "  mending  his  fences  "  — 
that  is  a  practical  use  of  time !  There  is  no  waste  or 
sentiment  in  that !  Well,  those  men  in  Congress  who 
were  so  opposed  to  sentiment  and  holidays  are  all  gone  ; 
they  have  all  passed  away.  They  lived,  however,  to  see 
a  little  more  of  both.  They  lived  to  hear  the  chant  and 
song  of  the  Union  soldier  in  camp  or  on  his  march  to 


70 

the  battlefield.  They  heard  his  shout  of  "  We'll  Rally 
'round  the  Flag,  Boys,"  and  "  Down  with  the  Traitor 
and  up  with  the  Stars."  They  lived  to  see  him  on  his 
homeward  march,  bearing  aloft  the  dear  old  flags,  torn, 
bullet-riddled,  and  begrimed  and  scorched  with  the 
smoke  and  fire  of  many  battles  —  the  battle  flags. 

"  Nothing  but  flags,  but  simple  flags, 
Tattered  and  torn  and  hanging  in  rags  ; 
Baptized  in  blood,  our  purest,  best, 
Tattered  and  torn,  they're  now  at  rest." 

They  lived  to  see  the  Union  restored,  and  its  banner 
waving  in  victory,  and  in  the  sunlight  of  peace,  in  the  old 
places  from  which  it  had  been  driven.  They  lived  to 
see  the  centennial  of  its  natal  day  in  1877  celebrated 
throughout  the  land,  and  they  saw  that  all  this  was 
something  more  than  sentiment.  There  was  a  meaning 
in  it.  It  was  sincerity,  love,  devotion,  the  expression  of 
true  patriotism.  They  lived  to  see  more  holidays  estab- 
lished —  to  see  the  birthday  of  Washington  commemo- 
rated, on  which  we  recount  the  deeds,  the  virtues,  and 
wisdom  of  the  father  of  his  country ;  and  Memorial  Day 
and  Thanksgiving  Day  —  our  old  New  England  festival 
nationalized.  And  they  lived  to  see  Labor  claiming 
its  day  for  recognition  and  rest.  And  Judge  Loomis  has 
lived  to  see  all  this,  and  more.  He  has  lived  to  see  the 
old  flag  flying,  by  official  order,  every  day  from  every 
public  building,  and  from  nearly  every  schoolhouse  in 
the  land  —  an  object  lesson  in  childhood;  an  educa- 
tional force  in  the  school  of  patriotism.  And  he  is  here 
to-day,  to  join  in  celebrating  its  birthday  with  the 
sons  of  those  who  fought  to  sustain  it  at  its  birth, 
and  who  followed  it  in  victory  through  the  Revolu- 
tion. In  connection  with  the  celebration  of  the  cen- 
tennial of  the  flag  in  1877,  let  me  state  that  a  dis- 
tinguished editor  in  the  Southwest,  Hon.  Henry  Wat- 
terson  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  had  on  Memorial  Day, 
that  year,  in  an  address  at  Nashville,  paid  a  beauti- 
ful   tribute    to   "  the   starry  flag    of    the    Republic."     I 


71 

wrote  to  him  thanking  him  for  the  spirit  of  his  address, 
and  suggested  the  observance  of  Flag  Day  that  year, 
and  the  making  of  the  day  a  national  holiday.  He  was 
absent  from  home  when  my  letter  arrived,  and  did  not 
return  until  after  the  day  had  passed.  On  his  return  he 
wrote  me  that  he  thought  the  suggestion  an  admirable 
one. 

The  National  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution  have  authorized  the  commemoration  of  "  Flag 
Day  "  by  the  State  societies,  and  here  to  old  Lebanon  the 
Connecticut  Society  has  come  to  celebrate  the  day.  And 
what  more  fitting  place  could  they  have  chosen  ?  Leba- 
non !  the  home  of  patriots  ;  the  home  of  the  Trumbulls, 
the  Williams,  the  Clarks,  and  others.  Lebanon  !  where 
so  many  plans  were  made  and  measures  taken  to  carry 
on  the  revolution.  Lebanon  !  soil  trodden  by  Washing- 
ton, Knox,  and  Trumbull ;  by  Lafayette,  Rochambeau, 
Tiernay,  De  Lauzun,  and  Chastellux,  brave  allies  of  the 
American  cause. 

Here  in  the  old  War  Office  of  Brother  Jonathan  they 
held  councils  which  led  to  victory.  Here  on  the  spot 
where  we  are  gathered,  and  on  the  broad  field  before 
us,  the  golden  lilies  of  France  bloomed  in  beauty  on 
their  white  banners  beside  the  stars  and  stripes  of  Amer- 
ica. Surely  no  spot  is  more  sacred  to  Liberty  than  this  ! 
There  was  no  place  in  the  whole  land  where  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Revolution  were  better  understood  and  main- 
tained than  here. 

This  whole  section  was  filled  with  the  spirit  of  lib- 
erty. No  two  counties  in  the  thirteen  colonies  did 
more  for  the  patriot  cause  than  the  counties  of  New 
London  and  Windham.  Certainly  none  furnished  pro- 
portionately more  soldiers  for  the  army.  I  have  won- 
dered, Mr.  President,  why  this  was  so,  but  when  I  re- 
member the  fact  that  the  early  settlers  here  were  those, 
and  the  descendants  of  those,  who  in  the  old  Bay 
opposed  the  oppressive  measures  of  Charles  I,  and  James 
II,  I  no  longer  wonder.     Here,  too,  came  men  from  the 


72 

Old  Colony,  —  the  Brewsters,  the  Bradf ords,  the  Robin- 
sons, the  Hinckleys,  and  the  Bartletts.  The  seed  of  the 
Mayfloivcr  was  widely  scattered  here,  and  at  the  out- 
break of  the  Revolution  the  compact  signed  in  its  cabin 
had  not  been  forgotten.  Then  other  influences  were 
instrumental  in  the  formation  of  the  patriotic  spirit. 
The  clergymen  of  this  section  were  all  imbued  with  it. 
Here  in  Lebanon  was  Rev.  Solomon  Williams,  father 
of  the  signer  of  the  Declaration,  and  Thomas  Brockway  ; 
in  Norwich  was  Joseph  Strong  and  Benjamin  Lord ;  in 
Griswold,  Levi  Hart ;  in  Woodstock,  Abial  Leonard ;  in 
Stonington,  Nathaniel  Ells;  and  down  in  Lyme,  Rev. 
Stephen  Johnson,  the  "  incomparable  "  Stephen  Johnson, 
whose  pen  was  so  prolific  and  powerful  in  the  patriotic 
cause. 

Then  there  were  the  two  newspapers, —  The  New  Lon- 
don Gazette,  published  by  the  fearless  Timothy  Greene, 
who  dared  to  face  the  stamp  act  by  issuing  his  paper 
unstamped  ;  and  the  Norwich  Packet,  under  John  Trum- 
bull, who  sent  away  his  Tory  partners  to  New  York  to 
find  more  congenial  society.  All  these  contributed  to- 
wards moulding  public  opinion ;  so,  under  these  influ- 
ences, there  was  not  room  for  Tories  to  flourish,  and 
there  was  not  very  much  trouble  with  them.  In 
fact  there  were  only  two  or.  three  of  any  note.  Rev.  Sam 
Peters,  up  in  Hebron,  was  the  most  bitter  and  spiteful 
of  them  ;  but  the  Sons  of  Liberty  took  care  of  him. 
Rev.  Mather  Byles,  in  New  London,  didn't  make 
much  trouble,  nor  did  Colonel  Godfrey  Malborne,  up  in 
Brooklyn. 

But  I  have  digressed.  Well,  our  dream  of  "  Flag 
Day "  has  not  been  realized  in  all  its  features.  We 
were  not  as  correct  in  our  prophecy  as  was  John  Adams 
of  Independence  Day!  Time  has  changed  our  pro- 
gramme. Another  day  has  come  into  our  calendar.  If 
we  have  failed  to  weave  garlands  for  youth  and  old  age 
on  "  Flag  Day,"  on  "Memorial  Day  "we  decorate  with 
flowers  and  wreaths  the   graves  of   the  fallen  brave  — 


73 

fallen  in  defense  of  the  flag-.  This  is  now  the  duty  of 
the  living,  and  will  be  after  the  last  veteran  of  the  civil 
war  shall  have  gone  to  his  rest. 

We  need  all  these  national  holidays  —  never  so  much 
as  now.  We  are  absorbing  into  our  social  and  political 
system  hordes  from  other  lands  whom  we  must  instruct 
and  educate  in  the  principles  and  institutions  of  our 
country,  if  we  wish  to  preserve  them  ;  and  we  must  con- 
tinually refresh  our  studies  of  them  ourselves.  If  "  eter- 
nal vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty,"  that  vigilance  must 
be  stimulated  by  the  memories  of  the  past.  For  the  love 
of  our  country,  we  must  forsake  the  pursuit  of  pleasure 
and  wealth,  and  devote  ourselves  to  duties  of  patriotism. 
As  citizens,  we  can  make  no  better  use  of  time. 

And  the  flag!  In  what  better  way  can  we  tell  its 
story.  We  hardly  know  its  early  history  ;  the  theories 
in  regard  to  it  are  hardly  tenable.  Only  the  poet  has 
divined  its  origin  : 

"  When  Freedom  from  her  mountain  height, 

Unfurled  her  standard  to  the  air, 
She  tore  the  azure  robe  of  night 

And  set  the  stars  of  glory  there. 
She  mingled  with  its  gorgeous  dyes 

The  milky  baldric  of  the  skies  ; 
And  striped  its  pure  celestial  white, 

With  streakings  of  the  morning  light. 
Then  from  his  mansion  in  the  sun 

She  called  her  eagle-bearer  down, 
And  gave  into  his  mighty  hand 

The  symbol  of  her  chosen  land." 

We  may  well  believe  its  bright  stars  were  a  gift  from 
the  constellations  ;  its  stripes  from  the  rays  of  the  morn- 
ing, sent  to  herald  and  lighten  the  day  of  liberty  to  the 
world. 

The  old  flag !  It  is  something  more  than  a  harmoni- 
ous arrangement  of  beautiful  colors.  It  means  some- 
thing. It  represents  .something.  It  is  indeed  the  signal 
of  liberty.  Its  bright  stripes  bear  the  record  of  a  pro- 
test against  tyranny  and  oppression.     It  enfolds  the  his- 

lO 


74 

tory  of  coiivStitntional  liberty  and  free  government. 
Henceforth  its  birthday  will  be  remembered  as  the  years 
come  around.  The  dear  old  flag !  Glorious  as  has 
been  its  past,  its  future  shall  be  more  glorious  still. 
Brighter  and  brighter  shall  its  stars  shine,  and  more  and 
more  brilliant  shall  its  stripes  glow.  Over  broader  lands 
and  wider  seas  and  on  greater  heights  shall  its  glory 
spread  and  its  victories  be  won. 

The  President :  This  occasion  would  not  be  complete 
if  we  should  fail  to  hear  the  voice  of  a  well-known  and 
well-beloved  son  of  Lebanon,  the  brother  of  the  second 
war-governor  whom  this  honored  town  has  furnished  to 
our  State  and  country.  I  have  the  pleasure  and  honor 
to  inform  the  audience  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  G. 
Buckingham  has  kindly  consented  to  address  us. 

DR.    BUCKINGHAM'S   ADDRESS. 

Mr.  President  and  People  of  Connecticut  : 

I  am  not,  I  suppose,  one  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, but  I  claim  to  be  a  true  and  loyal  son  of  Connecticut. 
Though  I  have  spent  all  my  professional  life  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  cherish  the  profoundest  respect  for  her  in- 
stitutions and  people,  still  I  was  born  and  trained  here. 
Our  ancestor  was  one  of  the  original  settlers  of  the  New 
Haven  Colony,  and  one  of  his  sons  bore  a  leading  part 
in  the  organization  of  your  churches  and  in  the  founding 
and  rectorship  of  Yale  College.  And  familiar  as  I  am 
with  your  achievements,  is  it  strange  that  I  honor  and 
love  my  native  State  ?  Especially  since  you  selected  my 
brother  to  be  your  Governor,  when  the  war  for  the  Union 
was  coming  on,  and  so  nobly  sustained  him  and  the 
Union  until  all  opposition  to  it  was  put  down,  and  slav- 
ery, the  cause  of  all  our  dissensions,  was  forever  removed, 
do  you  wonder  that  my  heart  turns  admiringly  and  grate- 
fully to  you,  and  always  will  under  whatever  skies  I  may 
chance  to  find  myself?     Since  the  State  put  $2,000,000  at 


75 

his  disposal  at  the  outset  of  the  war  for  the  purposes  of 
the  war,  and  at  his  suggestion  loaned  the  credit  of  the 
State  to  the  General  Government  to  sustain  its  credit, 
and  furnished  soldiers  at  his  call  till  every  quota  called 
for  was  supplied  without  ever  submitting  to  a  draft,  and 
when  you  withheld  not  your  noblest  sons  from  the  sacri- 
fices of  war,  and  so  many  of  them  went  forth  never  to 
return,  —  can  one  brought  up  among  them,  with  their 
principles  in  his  heart,  if  not  their  blood  in  his  veins,  fail 
to  admire  them  and  the  State  that  trained  them  to  be 
such  patriots? 

God's  best  gift  to  Lebanon  zvas  its  first  settlers.  Captain 
Joseph  Trumbull,  the  first  of  the  name  here,  and  the 
founder  of  the  Lebanon  branch  of  the  family,  settled  here 
in  1704,  just  after  the  town  was  organized.  He  was  a 
farmer  and  a  merchant,  and  subsequently  engaged,  with 
his  sons,  in  foreign  commerce,  building  vessels  of  their 
own  on  the  Thames  and  the  Connecticut,  and  exchanging 
their  exports  for  imports  from  the  West  Indies,  England, 
and  Holland.  He  had  eight  children,  four  sons  and  four 
daughters,  of  whom  his  oldest  son,  Joseph,  his  partner 
in  business  and  supercargo  of  one  of  their  ships,  was  lost 
at  sea,  and  David,  the  youngest,  was  drowned  in  the  mill- 
pond  at  home  on  his  college  vacation.  Jonathan,  the 
"  War  Governor,"  had  just  graduated  from  college  and 
finished  his  preparation  for  the  ministry,  and  was  to  have 
been  settled  in  Colchester,  when  his  brother  was  lost  at 
sea,  and  he  felt  constrained  to  abandon  the  ministry  and 
go  to  the  assistance  of  his  father.  Here  he  acquired  that 
business  knowledge  and  ability  which  proved  so  valuable 
when  he  came  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the  State  and 
succor  Washington  and  his  army  in  their  extremity.  No 
wonder  General  Washington  looked  to  him  with  hope 
when  he  could  find  help  nowhere  else,  saying,  "  Let  us 
see  what  Brother  Jonathan  can  do  for  us  " ;  and  little 
wonder  that  he  found  it  when  the  State  responded  with 
such  contributions  and  sacrifices  to  the  appeals  of  their 
heroic  Governor. 


76 

The  Governor's  own  family  was  as  follows : 

Joseph,  born  March,  1737,  was  Commissary-General 
of  Washington's  army. 

Jonathan,  Jr.,  born  ]\Iarch  26,  1740,  was  Paymaster 
in  Washington's  army,  and  afterwards  Governor  of  the 
State. 

Faith,  born  Jan.  25,  1743,  married  Gen.  Jedediah 
Huntington,  of  the  Revolutionary  army. 

Mary,  born  July  16,  1745,  married  William  Williams, 
"  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence." 

David,  bom  Feb.  5,  1751,  was  Assistant  Commis- 
sary, etc.,  and  father  of  Governor  Joseph. 

John,  born  June  6,  1756,  was  Aid-de-Camp  to  Wash- 
ton,  and  the  renowned  painter. 

To  say  that  this  whole  family  filled  so  many  high 
positions  with  distinguished  ability  and  fidelity ;  that  the 
father  filled  every  civil  and  judicial  office  of  the  State, 
from  one  of  the  deputies  of  the  town  to  the  General 
Court,  to  the  speakership  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, and  from  Judge  of  Probate  to  the  office  of  the 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Superior  and  Supreme  Courts,  before 
he  became  Governor ;  that  the  sons  all  filled  their  mili- 
tary offices  with  honor,  and  especially  in  departments 
which  required  the  highest  financial  integrity  and  ability, 
and  when  the  youngest  showed  such  peculiar  aptitude 
for  the  military  profession,  and  yet  turned  away  from  it 
to  become  the  historical  painter  of  his  country,  and  make 
the  panels  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington  the  memorial 
of  his  genius ;  and  that  the  daughters  each  adorned  her 
sphere  with  equal  grace  and  patriotism ;  and,  to  vSay  no 
more,  is  honor  enough  for  one  household. 

Add  to  this  the  Williams  family,  that  married  into 
the  Trumbull  family.  Rev.  Solomon  Williams,  D.D., 
who  was  for  fifty-four  years  the  pastor  here,  belonged  to 
the  family  of  those  who  suffered  the  barbarities  of  cap- 
tivity that  attended  the  burning  of  Dcerfield  by  the 
Indians  in  1 704.  One  of  his  sons,  Eliphalet,  was  pastor 
of  the  church  in   East  Hartford  some  fifty  years,  and 


17 

another,  Ezekiel,  was  for  thirty  years  high  sheriff  of 
Hartford  county,  and  he  the  father  of  one  of  the  Chief 
Justices  of  Connecticut.  Dr.  Williams  might  well  have 
been  the  father  of  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  judging  from  the  jubilant  sermon  he 
preached  on  the  surrender  of  Quebec  in  1759,  when  a 
general  thanksgiving  was  observed,  and  he  so  well 
appreciated  the  importance  of  it,  regarding  "  the  con- 
quest of  Quebec,  the  capital  of  Canada,  as  of  more  im- 
portance than  has  ever  been  made  by  the  English  since 
England  was  a  nation."  His  son  William,  —  usually 
styled  Colonel  William  Williams  —  the  one  who  immor- 
talized himself  by  signing  that  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, graduated  at  Harvard  College  and  studied  for 
the  ministry  with  his  father,  but  joined  the  English  and 
Continental  forces  in  the  old  French  war,  on  the  staff  of 
his  cousin,  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams,  who  fell  in  that 
campaign.  Of  ardent  temperament,  beautiful  in  person, 
eloquent  of  speech,  and  capable  of  inspiring  others  with 
his  own  convictions  and  patriotism,  he  went  over  the  State 
arousing  the  people  to  their  danger  and  their  duty,  while 
his  brother-in-law,  David  Trumbull,  was  buying  up 
all  the  pork  in  the  State,  and  collecting  gunpowder  and 
clothing  from  every  quarter,  to  enable  our  poor  army  to 
keep  the  field.  The  man  who  would  risk  his  life  to 
secure  our  independence,  and  impoverished  himself  to 
maintain  the  cause,  might  well  be  regarded  as  the 
apostle  of  Liberty,  and  the  most  efficient  supporter  of  the 
patriotic  Governor.  When  the  outlook  was  darkest,  and 
one  of  the  Council  of  Safety  expressed  the  hope  that  we 
might  yet  be  successful,  he  replied :  "  If  we  fail,  I  know 
what  my  fate  will  be.  I  have  done  much  to  prosecute 
the  war,  and  one  thing  which  the  British  will  never  par- 
don, I  have  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
I  shall  be  himsi  !  "'  "Well,"  said  another  member  of  the 
Council,  "  if  we  fail,  I  don't  know  that  I  could  be  hung. 
For  my  name  is  not  attached  to  that  Declaration,  nor 
have   I   written   anything  against   the    British   govern- 


7S 

ment."  "  Then,"  said  Williams,  "jwe  ovgJit  to  be  Imng  for 
not  doing  yonr  dnty^  As  has  been  said  of  him  :  "  With 
tongue,  pen,  and  estate  he  gave  himself  to  the  cause  of 
the  colonies.  During  the  gloomy  winter  of  i  'j'j'j  he  sent 
beef,  cattle,  and  gold  to  Valley  Forge,  saying,  '  If  inde- 
pendence shall  be  established,  I  shall  get  my  pay ;  if  not, 
the  loss  will  be  of  no  account  to  me.'  " 

Another  of  those  families  was  the  Mason  family,  not 
only  distinguished  by  their  natural  characteristics  and 
practical  ability,  but  by  their  high  descent.  They  were 
the  descendants  of  Major  John  Mason,  of  Pequot  fame, 
and  the  first  proprietor  of  land  within  the  limits  of  the 
town.  The  Colony  gave  him  for  his  services  five  hun- 
dred acres  of  land,  and  much  more  was  purchased  of  the 
Indians,  until  he  was  the  chief  proprietor  of  the  whole 
township.  Fifty  years  ago,  three  of  his  descendants,  two 
sons  and  a  daughter,  with  large  families,  were  influential 
people  in  the  town,  and  not  only  noted  for  their  noble 
personal  appearance,  but  as  well  for  their  business  ability 
and  public  spirit.  Another  of  them  was  Jeremiah 
Mason,  the  famous  Massachusetts  lawyer,  and  contem- 
porary of  Mr.  Webster,  who  paid  such  a  beautiful  tribute 
before  the  Boston  bar  to  his  abilities  and  worth.  But  the 
most  remarkable  characteristic  of  this  family  was  —  as 
has  been  shown  in  Chancellor  Walworth's  "  Genealogy 
of  the  Hyde  Family"  (Vol.  II,  page  926)  — that  they 
were  descended  from  William  the  Conqueror,  from  the 
Plantagenets  of  England,  Matilda  of  Scotland,  Louis  the 
Fair  of  France,  and  from  Charlemagne,  the  great 
Emperor  of  the  West,  and  with  blue  blood  enough  in 
their  veins  to  stock  a  kingdom. 

Such  were  some  of  the  people  who  had  the  early 
guidance  of  affairs  and  the  shaping  of  public  sentiment 
in  this  New  England  town.  And  such  were  some  of  the 
moulding  influences  which  made  the  State  what  it  was 
and  shaped  our  general  government ;  and  wherever  they 
have   been   carried  by   emigration,   must   have   been   a 


79 

blessing,  as  they  have  been  here.*  The  vsprings  where 
mountain  streams  take  their  rise,  and  flow  down  through 
fertile  plains,  and  alongside  of  wealthy  cities,  to  enrich 
the  commerce  of  the  world,  and  bless  its  countless  inhab- 
itants, are  interesting  spots  to  visit,  and  suggestive  of 
what  smaller  towns  may  have  done  for  the  world  and  are 
likely  to  do  in  the  future. 

The  list  of  Governors  which  this  town  has  furnished 
to  the  State  is  certainly  remarkable,  both  in  number  and 
character,  especially  considering  its  population  and  bus- 
iness. Entirely  an  agricultural  town,  with  never  more 
than  three  (3,000)  thousand  inhabitants,  it  has  filled  the 
chair  of  State  with  such  men  as  these,  and  for  such 
terms  of  office: 

Jonathan  Trumbull,  Sr.,      -     1769  to  1784. 

Jonathan  Trumbull,  Jr.,      -     1798  to  1809. 

Clark  Bissell,      -  -  -     1847  to  1849. 

Joseph  Trumbull,        -  -     1849  to  1850. 

William  A.  Buckingham,     -     1858  to  1866. 

Here  are  five  Governors  from  the  same  town,  holding 
the  office  by  annual  election  for  one-third  of  a  century, 
and  filling  the  office  with  becoming  dignity  and  distin- 
guished usefulness.  We  do  not  wonder  at  the  pleasant 
boast  of  the  people  of  the  town  : —  "  We  supply  Norwich 
with  butter  and  cheese,  a)id  the  State  luith  Governors,  espe- 
cially when  they  zv ant  good  ones.'' 


*  When  I  was  a  boy,  emigration  from  this  town  was  going  on  to 
"  'hio," —  Ohio —  "  Genisee  cotmty,"  in  and  about  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  "  up 
county,"  which  meant  Vermont.  Dartmouth  College,  under  Pres.  Whee- 
lock,  then  "  Moore's  Charity  School  "  for  the  education  of  Indian  youth,  had 
been  taken  up  almost  bodily  and  transported  from  Columbia,  then  a  part  of 
this  town,  to  Hanover,  N.  H.,  just  across  the  river.  And  so  many  of  the 
settlers  went  with  it  from  this  vicinity  that  twenty  or  more  of  the  neighbor- 
ing towns  in  Vermont  bear  the  names  of  Connecticut  towns  from  which  the 
settlers  came.  Indeed,  the  State  had  so  much  of  this  settlement  in  it  that  it 
was  named  "  New  Connecticut,"  and  the  name  was  only  changed  because 
there  were  other  settlements  of  similar  origin  taking  the  same  name  —  like 
the  "  New  Connecticut  "  in  the  Susquehanna  Valley,  and  the  "  New  Connec- 
ticut "  of  Northern  Ohio,  both  of  which  distinctly  show  the  characteristics  of 
their  origin. 


80 

The  Trumbull  Tomb,  where  so  many  of  the  family 
and  their  kindred  sleep,  is  an  object  of  peculiar  interest. 
As  has  been  said :  "  Within  this  family  mausoleum  rest 
the  sacred  ashes  of  more  of  the  illustrious  dead  than  in 
any  other  in  the  State,  or  perhaps  the  country.  Here  rest 
the  remains  of  that  eminently  great  and  good  Jonathan 
Trumbull,  Sr.,  the  bosom  friend  and  most  trusted  coun- 
sellor of  Washington  ;  of  his  good  wife,  Faith  Robinson  ; 
of  his  eldest  son,  Joseph,  the  first  Commissary-General  of 
the  army  under  Washington ;  of  his  second  son,  Jona- 
than, Jr.,  Paymaster-General  of  the  same  army,  private 
secretary,  and  first  Aid-de-Camp  to  General  Washington, 
and  afterward  Speaker  of  the  United  States  House  of 
Representatives,  member  of  the  United  States  Senate, 
and  Governor  of  this  State ;  and  by  his  side  his  good 
wife,  Eunice  Backus;  of  his  third  son,  David,  Commis- 
sary of  this  Colony  in  the  Revolution,  and  Assistant- 
Commissary-General  under  his  brother  in  the  army  of 
Washington,  and  by  his  side  his  good  wife,  Sarah 
Backus  ;  of  his  second  daughter,  Mary,  and  by  her  side 
her  illustrious  husband,  William  Williams,  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Independence,  — 
and  many  others  who  have  from  these  descended.  What 
a  tomb  is  here  !  What  a  shrine  for  patriotic  devotion  !  " 
— [Rev.  Mr.  Hine's  "  Early  Lebanon."] 

As  I  have  stood  before  that  tomb  with  my  brother,  I 
can  think  of  nothing  so  likely  to  have  inspired  him  with 
his  patriotism  as  this.  Sure  I  am,  that  next  to  his  duty 
to  God,  no  stronger  motive  influenced  him  than  the 
desire  to  be  to  his  State  and  country  somewhat  such  as 
Trumbull  was  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  And  the 
heroic  statue  to  his  memory,  which  you  have  set  up  in 
your  State  Capitol,  like  the  one  erected  to  the  honor  of 
his  predecessor  in  the  National  Capitol,  will  carry  down 
their  names  together  to  posterity, —  the  one  as  "  the  War 
Governor  of  the  Revolution,''  and  the  other  as  "  tJie  War 
Governor  of  t lie  Rebellion^ 

It  is  the  memory  of  such  spotless  and  noble  charac- 


ters ;  the  places  where  they  were  born,  and  lie  sleeping  ; 
the  associations  of  their  early  lives,  and  the  scenes  of 
their  active  usefulness,  which  serve  to  influence  and  en- 
noble us.  And  it  is  to  revive  and  deepen  such  impres- 
sions and  transmit  them  to  others  that  we  gather  in  this 
old  historic  town,  and  set  apart,  with  appropriate  vSer- 
vices,  Governor  Trumbull's  War  Office  to  such  uses.  It  is 
only  a  plain  wooden  building,  built  by  the  Governor  for 
a  store,  but  where  most  of  the  twelve  hundred  sessions 
of  the  Council  of  Safety  were  held  during  the  war. 
Here  is  where  Washington  and  so  many  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  times  came  to  consult  him,  and  where  some 
of  the  important  expeditions  of  the  war  were  planned. 
It  is  generally  understood  that  the  meeting  here  of  so 
many  of  the  commanders  of  the  French  land  forces  and 
the  officers  of  their  navy  with  our  own  statesmen  and 
commanders  had  reference  to  the  combined  expedition 
against  Yorktown,  which  terminated  the  war,  though  the 
final  determination  might  have  been  reached  at  "  the 
Webb  Tavern  "  in  Wethersfield  —  a  humble  building, 
but  ennobled  by  the  great  men  who  gathered  there,  the 
noble  plans  projected  there,  the  great  achievements 
carried  out  to  their  sublime  results  from  such  a  place. 
It  is  the  glory  which  sunshine  gives  to  a  humble  flower ; 
the  glory  of  modest  worth  and  faithful  usefulness  ;  the 
glory  somewhat  which   Heaven   sheds   over    a   sainted 

soul :  — 

"  Sacred  the  robe,  the  faded  glove, 
Once  worn  by  one  we  used  to  love  ; 
Dead  warriors  in  their  armor  live, 
And  in  their  relics  saints  survive." 

As  we  have  thus  re-read  this  chapter  of  your  history, 
we  have  been  more  than  ever  impressed  with  the  in- 
fluence of  individual  characters  and  families  and  noble 
deeds  upon  a  town,  a  State,  the  country.  It  is  men  and 
women  that  make  history,  and  it  is  history,  in  turn,  that 
makes  them  of  coming  generations  ;  it  is  parents  who 
transmit  their  own  characteristics ;  it  is  the  family  that 


82 

moulds  the  children;  it  is  such  characters  and  such 
families  which  are  the  wealth  of  the  nation  ;  it  is  their 
principles  and  achievements  which  are  the  cherished 
treasures  of  our  State  and  of  the  country.  And  so  we 
reckon  them  among  God's  best  gifts  to  any  community. 
But  for  these  how  changed  would  our  condition  be,  and 
how  different  our  history  ?  If  our  old  Puritan  Governor 
had  been  no  more  patriotic  than  the  rest  of  them  ;  if 
his  son-in-law  had  not  affixed  his  signature  to  that  im- 
mortal declaration ;  if  his  sons,  in  the  commissary  de- 
partment of  the  army,  had  not  been  so  efficient  and  in- 
corruptible in  the  management  of  its  affairs ;  if  France 
had  not  sent  Lafayette  and  her  army  and  her  navy  to 
our  assistance  ;  if  the  last  expedition  of  the  war  had  not 
been  planned  in  that  old  War  Office — how  changed 
would  have  been  the  result!  And  we  are  grateful  to 
God  —  supremely  grateful  —  for  such  a  result.  His 
Providence  settled  the  town  with  such  families,  and 
trained  such  characters.  The  same  good  Providence 
gave  us  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  the  French  nation. 
And  the  God  of  battles  gave  us  the  final  victory.  We 
bow  with  reverent  and  grateful  hearts  before  this  God 
of  our  fathers ;  and  He  shall  be  our  God,  as  well  as 
theirs,  forever  and  ever. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Buckingham's  address,  the 
benediction  was  pronounced  by  the  Rev.  S.  Dryden 
Phelps,  chaplain  of  the  New  Haven  branch  of  the 
vSociety. 

The  audience  then  gradually  dispersed  in  various  di- 
rections, the  band  ^\a.y'v!ig  Auld  Lang  Syne  as  its  closing 
piece. 


APPENDIX. 


The  proclamation  to  which  Dr.  Bacon  refers  in  his 
address  is  here  given  in  full :  — 

"  By  the  Honorable  Jonathan  Trumbull  Esq  Gover- 
nor and  Commander-in-chief  of  the  English  Colony 
of  Connecticut  in  New  England. 

"A   PROCLAMATION 

"  The  Race  of  Mankind  was  made  in  a  State  of  In- 
nocence and  Freedom  subjected  only  to  the  Laws  of  God 
the  Creator,  and  through  his  rich  Goodness,  designed  for 
virtuous  liberty  and  Happiness,  here  and  forever ;  and 
when  moral  Evil  was  introduced  into  the  World,  and 
Man  had  corrupted  his  Ways  before  God,  Vice  and 
Iniquity  came  in  like  a  Flood  and  Mankind  became  ex- 
posed, and  a  prey  to  the  Violence,  Injustice  and  Oppres- 
sion of  one  another.  God  in  great  Mercy  inclined  his 
People  to  form  themselves  into  Society,  and  to  set  up 
and  establish  civil  Government  for  the  Protection  and 
security  of  their  Lives  and  Properties  from  the  Invasion 
of  wicked  men.  But  through  Pride  and  ambition,  the 
Kings  and  Princes  of  the  World  appointed  by  the  Peo- 
ple the  Guardians  of  their  Lives  and  Liberties,  early  and 
almost  universally  degenerated  into  Tyrants,  and  by 
Fraud  or  Force  betrayed  and  wrested  out  of  their  hands 
the  very  Rights  and  Properties  they  were  appointed  to 
protect  and  defend.  But  a  small  part  of  the  Human 
Race  maintained  and  enjoyed  any  tolerable  Degree  of 
Freedom.  Among  those  happy  few,  the  nation  of  Great 
Britain  was  distinguished  by  a  Constitution  of  Govern- 
ment wisely  framed  and  modelled  to  support  the  Dignity 


84 

and  Power  of  the  Prince,  for  the  protection  of  the 
Rights  of  the  People,  and  under  which  that  Country  in 
long  succession  enjoyed  great  Tranquillity  and  Peace, 
though  not  unattended  with  repeated  and  powerful 
efforts,  by  many  of  its  haughty  Kings,  to  destroy  the 
Constitutional  Rights  of  the  People,  and  establish  arbi- 
trary Power  and  Dominion.  In  one  of  those  convulsive 
struggles  our  Forefathers,  having  suffered  in  that  their 
native  Country  great  and  variety  of  Injustice  and  Op- 
pression, left  their  dear  Connections  and  Enjoyments, 
and  fled  to  this  then  inhospitable  land  to  secure  a  lasting 
retreat  from  civil  and  religious  Tyranny. 

"  The  God  of  Heaven  favored  and  prospered  this 
Undertaking  —  made  room  for  their  settlement  —  in- 
creased and  multiplied  them  to  a  very  numerous  People 
and  inclined  succeeding  Kings  to  indulge  them  and 
their  children  for  many  years  the  unmolested  Enjoyment 
of  the  Freedom  and  Liberty  they  lied  to  inherit.  But 
an  unnatural  King  has  risen  up  —  violated  his  sacred 
Obligations  and  by  the  Advice  of  Evil  Counsellors  at- 
tempted to  wrest  from  us,  their  children  the  Sacred 
Rights  we  justly  claim  and  which  have  been  ratified  and 
established  by  solemn  Compact  with,  and  recognized  by 
his  Predecessors  and  Fathers,  Kings  of  Great  Britain  — 
laid  upon  us  Burdens  too  heavy  and  grievous  to  be 
borne  and  issued  many  cruel  and  oppressive  Edicts,  de- 
priving us  of  our  natural,  lawful  and  most  important 
Rights,  and  subjecting  us  to  the  absolute  Power  and  Con- 
troul  of  himself  and  the  British  Legislature  ;  against 
which  we  have  sought  Relief,  by  humble,  earnest  and 
dutiful  Complaints  and  Petitions  :  But,  instead  of  ob- 
taining Redress  our  Petitions  have  been  treated  with 
vScorn  and  Contempt,  and  fresh  Injuries  heaped  upon  us 
while  hostile  armies  and  ships  are  sent  to  lay  waste  our 
Country.  In  this  distressing  Dilemma,  having  no  Alter- 
native but  absolute  Slavery  or  successful  Resistance,  this, 
and  the  United  American  Colonies  have  been  constrained 
by  the  overruling  laws  of  Self  Preservation  to  take  up 


85 

Arms  for  the  Defence  of  all  that  is  sacred  and  dear  to 
Freemen,  and  make  this  solemn  Appeal  to  Heaven 
for  the  Justice  of  their  Cause,  and  resist  Force  by- 
Force. 

"  God  Almighty  has  been  pleased  of  his  infinite 
Mercy  to  succeed  our  Attempts,  and  give  us  many  In- 
stances of  signal  Success  and  Deliverance.  But  the 
wrath  of  the  King  is  still  increasing,  and  not  content 
with  before  employing  all  the  Force  which  can  be  sent 
from  his  own  Kingdom  to  execute  his  cruel  Purposes,  has 
procured,  and  is  sending  all  the  Mercenaries  he  can 
obtain  from  foreign  countries  to  assist  in  extirpating  the 
Rights  of  America,  and  with  theirs  almost  all  the  liberty 
remaining  among  Mankind. 

"  In  this  most  critical  and  alarming  situation,  this  and 
all  the  Colonies  are  called  upon  and  earnestly  pressed  by 
the  Honorable  Congress  of  the  American  Colonies  united 
for  mutual  defence,  to  raise  a  large  additional  number  of 
their  militia  and  able  men  to  be  furnished  and  equipped 
with  all  possible  Expedition  for  defence  against  the  soon 
expected  attack  and.  invasion  of  those  who  are  our  Ene- 
mies without  a  Cause.  In  cheerful  compliance  with 
which  request  and  urged  by  Motives  the  most  cogent 
and  important  that  can  affect  the  human  Alind,  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  this  Colony  have  freely  and  unanimously 
agreed  and  resolved,  that  upwards  of  Seven  Thousand 
able  and  effective  Men  be  immediately  raised,  furnished 
and  equipped  for  the  great  and  interesting  Purposes 
aforesaid.  And  not  desirous  that  any  should  go  to  a 
warfare  at  their  own  charges  (though  equally  interested 
with  others)  for  defence  of  the  great  and  all-important 
Cause  in  which  we  are  engaged,  have  granted  large  and 
liberal  Pay  and  Encouragements  to  all  who  shall  volun- 
tarily undertake  for  the  Defence  of  themselves  and  their 
country  as  by  their  acts  may  appear,  I  do  therefore  by  and 
with  the  advice  of  the  Counsel,  and  at  the  desire  of  the 
Representatives  in  General  Court  assembled,  issue  this 
Proclamation,  and  make  the  solemn  Appeal  to  the  Vir- 


86 

tue  and  public  Spirit  of  the  good  People  of  this  Colony. 
Affairs  are  hastening  fast  to  a  Crisis,  and  the  approaching 
Campaign  will  in  all  Probability  determine  forever  the 
fate  of  America.  If  this  should  be  successful  on  our 
side,  there  is  little  to  fear  on  account  of  any  other.  Be 
exhorted  to  rise  therefore  to  superior  exertions  on  this 
great  Occasion,  and  let  all  that  are  able  and  necessary 
show  themselves  ready  in  Behalf  of  their  injured  and  op- 
pressed Country,  and  come  forth  to  the  help  of  the  Lord 
against  the  Mighty,  and  convince  the  unrelenting  Tyrant 
of  Britain  that  they  are  resolved  to  be  Free.  Let  them 
step  forth  to  defend  their  Wives,  their  little  Ones,  their 
Liberty,  and  everything  they  hold  sacred  and  dear,  to  de- 
fend the  Cause  of  their  Country,  their  Religion,  and  their 
God.  Let  every  one  to  the  utmost  of  their  Power  lend  a 
helping  Hand,  to  promote  and  forward  a  design  on  which 
the  salvation  of  America  now  evidently  depends.  Nor 
need  any  be  dismayed :  the  Cause  is  certainly  a  just  and 
a  glorious  one :  God  is  able  to  save  us  in  such  way  and 
manner  as  he  pleases  and  to  humble  our  proud  Oppres- 
sors. The  Cause  is  that  of  Truth  and  Justice;  he  has 
already  shown  his  Power  in  our  Behalf,  and  for  the  De- 
struction of  many  of  our  Enemies.  Our  Fathers  trusted 
in  him  and  tvere  delivered.  Let  us  all  repent  and  thor- 
oughly amend  our  Ways  and  turn  to  him,  put  all  our 
Trust  and  Confidence  in  him  —  in  his  Name  go  forth, 
and  in  his  Name  set  up  our  Banners,  and  he  will  save  us 
with  temporal  and  eternal  salvation.  And  while  our 
Armies  are  abroad  jeoparding  their  lives  in  the  high 
Places  of  the  Field,  let  all  who  remain  at  Home,  cry 
mightily  to  God  for  the  Protection  of  his  Providence  to 
shield  and  defend  their  lives  from  Death,  and  to  crown 
them  with  victory  and  success.  And  in  the  Name  of  the 
said  General  Assembly  I  do  hereby  earnestly  recommend 
it  to  all,  both  Ministers  and  People  frequently  to  meet 
together  for  social  prayer  to  Almighty  God  for  the  out- 
pouring of  his  blessed  vSpirit  upon  this  guilty  land  —  That 
he  would  awaken  his  People  to  Righteousness  and  Re- 


87 

pentance,  bless  our  Councils,  prosper  our  Arms  and  suc- 
ceed the  Measures  using  for  our  necessary  self  defence  — 
disappoint  the  evil  and  cruel  Devices  of  our  Enemies  — 
preserve  our  precious  Rights  and  Liberties,  lengthen  out 
our  Tranquility,  and  make  us  a  People  of  his  Praise,  and 
the  blessed  of  the  Lord,  as  long  as  the  Sun  and  Moon 
shall  endure. 

"  And  all  the  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  this  Colony, 
are  directed  and  desired,  to  publish  this  Proclamation  in 
their  several  churches  and  congregations,  and  to  enforce 
the  Exhortations  thereof,  by  their  own  pious  Example 
and  public  instructions. 

"  Given  under  my  Hand  at  the  Council  Chamber  in  Hart- 
ford, the  1 8th  day  of  June  Anno  Domini  1776. 

"Jonathan  Trumbull." 

Regarding  this  proclamation.  Dr.  Charles  J.  Hoadly, 
in  an  unpublished  letter,  writes  as  follows : 

"In  May,  1776,  the  convention  of  Virginia  passed 
certain  resolutions  instructing  their  delegates  in  Con- 
gress to  propose  to  that  respectable  body  to  declare  the 
United  American  Colonies  Free  and  Independent  States, 
and  ordered  copies  to  be  communicated  to  each  of  the 
other  Colonies.  There  was  a  special  session  of  the  Con- 
necticut General  Assembly  held  June  14-21,  1776.  With 
other  papers,  the  Virginia  resolves  w^ere  laid  before  it. 
On  the  forenoon  of  the  15th,  a  joint  committee  was 
raised  to  consider  the  expediency  of  instructing  our  dele- 
gates in  Congress  to  declare  the  United  Colonies  inde- 
pendent States.  This  committee  reported  a  preamble 
and  resolves  very  closely  echoing  those  of  Virginia, 
which  passed  unanimously.  The  proclamation  by  Gov. 
Trumbull  was  dated  the  1 8th.  It  is  probable  that  it  had 
passed  both  Houses  like  a  bill  —  at  least,  that  would 
have  been  the  usual  course  then." 

This  proclamation  is  also  mentioned  in  the  diary  of 
Major  French  in  Vol.  I  of  the  Collections  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Historical  Society. 


88 

Regarding-  the  Tnimbiill  papers  in  possession  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  the  following  items  are 
of  interest : 

At  its  May  Session  of  1771,  the  General  Assembly  of 
Connecticut  passed  the  following  resolution  : 

"  That  his  Honor  the  Governor  be  desired  to  collect 
all  the  publick  letters  and  papers  which  may  hereafter  in 
any  way  affect  the  interest  of  this  Colony,  and  have  the 
same  bound  together  that  they  may  be  preserved." 
{Colonial Records  of  Cofiitecticiit,  Vol.  X  11  I,  page  ^2.^.) 

In  a  foot  note  referring  to  this  resolution.  Dr.  Charles 
J.  Hoadly,  the  editor,  says : 

"  Of  the  papers  collected  by  Governor  Trumbull 
under  this  resolution,  his  son  David  in  1794  presented  to 
the  ]Slassachusetts  Historical  Society  a  great  number, 
which  are  now  in  the  possession  of  that  society,  known 
as  the  Trunibull  Papers,  and  bound  in  thirty  volumes. 
Another  volume,  containing  papers  of  an  earlier  date 
than  1 75 1,  was  destroyed  by  a  fire  in  1825.  Some  of 
these  papers  have  been  published  in  various  volumes  of 
the  society's  Collections;  the  recently  printed  Vol.  IX 
of  the  fourth  series  consists  entirely  of  the  so-called 
Trumbull  Papers. 

"Pursuant  to  a  resolve  of  the  May  session,  1845,  a 
claim  was  made  to  these  papers  as  belonging  to  the 
archives  of  Connecticut.  Some  of  the  correspondence  on 
the  subject  may  be  seen  in  Vol.  II  of  the  Proceedings  of 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  The  demand  was  not 
acknowledged  by  the  society,  on  the  ground  that,  in  their 
opinion,  the  papers  were  the  private  property  of  Gov. 
Trumbull,  and  that  his  heirs  had  the  right  to  dispose  of 
them  at  their  pleasure. 

"  Of  the  volume  lately  printed,  above  referred  to, 
pages  213-490  contain  letters  of  William  vSamuel  Johnson 
to  the  Governors  of  Connecticut  during  his  agency 
in  England,  1766-71.  The  book  from  which  these  were 
taken  is  described  in  the  prefatory  editorial  note  to  the 
volume  of   Collections,  page  x,  as   being  already  bound 


89 

when  it  came  into  the  society's  possession.  In  our 
archives,  Finance  a)id  Currency,  v.  doc.  82  a,  is  Gov.  Trum- 
bull's account  of  conting^ent  expenses  rendered  in  1774, 
one  item  in  which  is  ]\Ir.  Green's  charge  of  5s.  6d. 
'for  binding  Dr.  Johnson's  Letters.'  " 

This  note  of  Dr.  Hoadly  was  printed  in  1885.  Since 
then,  in  1888,  another  volume  of  the  "  Trumbull  Papers'' 
has  been  published  by  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 
in  Vol.  X,  fifth  series,  containing,  mainly,  "  Truinhull  and 
Wash  ington  Letters. 

A  well-authenticated  story  of  the  wife  of  David 
Trumbull  forms  one  of  the  many  illustrations  of  the 
patriotic  spirit  of  the  women  of  the  Revolution,  and 
seems  worthy  of  a  place  in  this  connection. 

In  the  winter  of  1780-81,  at  a  time  when  Lauzun's 
French  Legion  was  on  the  march  for  its  quarters  in 
Lebanon,  the  question  of  providing  accommodations  for 
the  officers  became  a  serious  one.  Accustomed  to  every 
luxury  at  home,  they  were  expected  to  need  the  most 
luxurious  quarters  which  Lebanon  could  afford.  As  the 
time  for  their  arrival  drew  near,  the  question  was  still 
agitating  the  plain  people  of  Lebanon.  But  one  house 
in  the  town  boasted  a  carpet,  used  as  an  ornament,  with 
an  ample  border  of  bare  floor  for  the  family  to  tread 
upon  to  save  the  wear  of  the  carpet,  which  rare  decora- 
tion was  in  a  large  room  in  the  house  of  the  Governor's 
son,  David,  who  had  then  been  married  scarcely  three 
years  to  Sarah  Backus  of  Norwich,  who  was  just  a  year 
his  junior. 

In  the  emergency  just  mentioned,  the  Governor  asked 
his  son,  David,  if  he  would  give  up  his  house  to  the 
French  officers, —  Rochambeau,  the  Baron  de  Stael,  the 
Duke  de  Lauzun,  and  others,  Lafayette  being  also  ex- 
pected as  an  occasional  visitor.  To  this,  the  son  very 
properly  replied  that  he  must  consult  Mrs.  Trumbull, 
which  he  proceeded  at  once  to  do.  To  the  question, 
"  Will  you  allow  me  to  take  you  to  your  mother's  house 


90 

at  Norwich,  and  give  up  our  house  to  the  French  offi- 
cers ?  "  Mrs.  Trumbull  promptly  replied.  "Certainly." 
She  was  informed  that  the  troops  were  already  on  the 
march,  and  was  asked  when  she  would  be  ready  for  her 
journey.  "  In  just  one  hour,"  was  the  prompt  reply  ; 
and  at  the  appointed  time,  with  her  infant  daughter, 
fifteen  months  old,  leaving  everything  in  the  way  of 
comforts  in  her  house,  this  patriotic  lady  set  out  for  her 
drive  of  twelve  miles  on  a  cold  December  day.  On  the 
second  day  of  the  following  January,  her  second  daugh- 
ter, Abigail,  was  born  at  Norwich. 

During  the  following  April,  while  Lafayette  was  at 
Lebanon,  Mrs.  Trumbull  paid  a  visit  to  her  home.  La- 
fayette requested  that  he  might  see  the  "  patriotic 
lady "  and  her  "  patriotic  baby."  He  met  them  at  the 
door  of  their  own  house,  and  taking  the  baby  in  his  arms 
kissed  it  tenderly  and  handed  it  about  to  the  other  offi- 
cers. A  portion  of  a  brocade  dress  which  ]\Irs.  Trumbull 
wore  on  this  occasion  is  still  preserved  as  a  family  heir- 
loom. 

Although  the  story  of  the  contribution  of  a  cloak  by 
her  mother-in-law.  Faith  Trumbull,  may  be  more  thrill- 
ing on  account  of  the  dramatic  situation  at  the  time,  the 
actual  sacrifice  of  the  daughter-in-law  to  the  cause  will 
certainly  bear  comparison. 

The  following  editorial  comments  from  the  Hartford 
Coiirant  of  June  i6,  1891,  form  a  just  and  fitting  tribute 
to  the  occasion,  and  to  the  town  and  people  of  Lebanon : 

"  Lebanon's  Great  Celebration. 

"  It  was  a  great  day  for  Lebanon,  Monday,  and  a 
good  one  for  Connecticut,  too.  Every  day  is  good  that 
tends  to  revive  and  quicken  the  local  pride  of  our  Con- 
necticut towns,  and  surely  that  must  have  resulted  from 
Monday's  celebration  in  Lebanon.  This  old  town  has 
furnished  governors  for  the  State  through  thirty-six  of 


91 

our  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years  of  statehood.  There 
was  old  Brother  Jonathan's  headquarters,  and  in  that 
central  and  thriving  community,  right  on  the  highway 
to  Boston,  a  vast  amount  of  the  work  was  done  that 
brought  the  Revolutionary  war  to  its  successful  issue. 

"  All  this  picture  of  the  past  was  vividly  recalled, 
Monday,  both  by  the  occasion  and  the  admirable 
speeches,  and  all  who  were  present  had  their  patriot- 
ism profoundly  stirred.  Lebanon  has  become  a  '  back 
town.'  It  is  on  the  same  road  as  of  old,  but  that  is  no 
longer  the  great  highway  to  Boston.  The  town  is  still 
given  to  agriculture  ;  and  farming,  they  tell  us,  is  played 
out,  and  the  soil  of  Connecticut  is  being  worked  by  those 
who  are  strangers  to  it. 

"  The  town  of  Lebanon  furnished  its  own  answer, 
Monday,  to  these  charges.  The  farming  people  were 
there,  and  they  were  a  genuine  American  crowd  —  sober, 
interested,  orderly,  intelligent,  the  strength  of  the  State. 
To  say  that  the  back  towns  are  degenerating  when  such 
people  make  up  the  bulk  of  their  population  is  to  ignore 
facts.  Brother  Jonathan  himself,  great  man  as  he  was 
in  many  ways,  would  have  found  himself  at  home  and 
at  his  ease  could  he  have  visited  Lebanon,  Monday,  and, 
while  the  material  changes  might  have  seemed  strange 
to  him,  the  people  would  have  been  of  the  sort  he  knew 
and  trusted." 


INDEX. 


Abell,  Charles  J.,  21. 

Abell,  Mrs.  Myron,  22. 

Adams,  John,  33. 

Adams,  Samuel,  33,  49. 

Adams,  54. 

Almy,  Dr.  Leonard  B.,  20. 

Andrews,  President  E.  B.,  61. 

Arnold,  50,  53. 

Arnoux,  Hon.  William  H.,  61. 

Avery,  David,  36. 

Avery,  Deacon  John  D.,  36. 

Aver}',  John  H.,  22,  23. 

Avery,  Mrs.  W.  B.,  23. 

Backus,  Eunice,  80. 

Backus,  Sarah,  80,  89. 

Bacon,  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard,  44. 

Bacon,  Rev.   Dr.   Leonard  W., 

42,  43.  83- 
Ball,  George  Washington,  61. 
Barker,  Mrs.  Maria  P.,  22. 
Barker,  N.  C,  21. 
Barrett,  Hon.  Edwin  S.,  60. 
Ba3'ard,  Hon.  Thomas  P.,  57. 
Beaumonts,  The,  43. 
Bissell,  Clark,  79. 
Boston,  5,  6,  7,  45,  46. 
Bowen,  Clarence  W.,  61. 
Bradfords,  The,  72. 
Branford,  15. 
Brewsters,  The,  72. 
Briggs,  Mrs.  Annie  E.,  22. 
Briggs,  Mrs.  C.  S.,  23. 
Brockway,  Thomas,  72. 
Brooklyn,  72. 

Brown,  Gov.  Montford,  17. 
Brown,  Mrs.  Prederick,  22. 
Bro\\Tiing,  Miss  Cecil,  22. 
Bryce,  Dr.,  44. 


24. 


Buchanan,  John  W.,  59. 
Buckingham,   Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  G., 

74.  82. 

Buckingham,  Gov.  William  A.,  79. 

Bulkeley,  Gov.  Morgan  G.,  37. 

Bunker  Hill,  36,  47. 

Burgess,  Mrs.  R.  P.,  22,  23. 

Butts,  Charles  R.,  20. 

Byles,  Rev.  Mather,  72. 

Cabell,  Hon.  William  D.,  59. 

Cadwalader,  Richard  M.,  61. 

Camp,  Capt.  Abiather,  17. 

Carroll,  Adams  P.,  20. 

Chase,  Hon.  Champion  S.,  59. 

Chastellux,  Marquis  de,  53. 

Clark,  Mrs.  John,  22. 

Cheney,  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  E.,  61. 

Clark,  Mrs.  Henry,  22. 

Cleveland,  ex-President  Grover,  61. 

Coit,  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  A.,  61. 

Collier,  Thomas  S.,  24,  38. 

Colonial  Records,  8,  19,  88. 

Connecticut,  43,  44,  45,  46,  49,  52,  57. 

Conn.  Historical  Society,  14,  15,  ig, 
20,  24,  26,  87. 

Conn.  Society  Sons  of  the  Am.  Rev- 
olution, II,  19,20,  21,24,  25.26, 
29.  30,  33.  45- 

Constitution  Day,  66,  67,  68. 

Cornwallis,  36. 

Council  of  Safety,  8,  9,  14,  15,  16, 
17,  18,  19,  49,  77. 

Crandall,  Hon.  John  C,  21. 

Darling,  Mrs.  P.  A.,  61. 

Dartmouth  College,  79, 

Delaplace,  Capt.,  15. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  25, 
32.  52. 


94 


Dewey,  Noah,  13,  14. 

Dolbeare,  Miss  S.  M.,  23. 

Durham,  17. 

Dutton,  Miss  Mary  H.,  12,  26. 

Dwight,  President  Timothy,  61. 

Dyer,  Eliphalet,  7. 

East  Hartford,  76. 

Edgerton,  Hon.  Albert,  60. 

Elderkin,  Jedidiah,  7. 

Eliot,  President  Charles  W.,  61. 

Ells,  Nathaniel,  72. 

Fairfield,  50. 

Favor,  Mrs.,  27. 

Favor,  Prof.,  27. 

Fiske,  John,  50. 

Fitch,  48. 

Flag  Day,  20,  24,  64,  66,  67,  68,  71. 

Fort  Sumter,  65. 

Fowler,  Amos,  35. 

Fowler,  Col.  Anson,  35,  36,  38. 

Fowler,  Frank  P.,  21. 

Fowler,  John,  36. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  16,  33. 

Franklin,  Gen.  William  B.,  61. 

Franklin,  Gov.  William,  13,  16,  18. 

Freeman's  Journal,  13. 

French,  Major,  15,  87. 

Gage,  Gov.,  46. 

Gardiner,  Major  Asa  Bird,  61. 

Gates,  W.  F.,  21,  22. 

Gates,  Mrs.  W.  F.,  22. 

Geer,  Erastus,  22,  35,  37. 

Geer,  Mrs.  Erastus,  22. 

General  Assembly,  7,  8,  14,  17,  19, 

86,  87,  88. 
Gibbs,  Mrs.  Edward,  23. 
Gillett,  Mrs.  William  W.,  22. 
Gilman,  President  Daniel  C,  59. 
Glassenbury,  Towm  of,  13. 
Glastenbury,  17. 
Greene,  Hon.  Nathanael,  60. 
Greene,  Timothy,  72. 
Griswold,  Hon.  Mathew,  7,  8. 
Griswold  (town),  72. 
Groton  Massacre,  36,  50,  51. 
Guilliver,  Rev.  Dr.  John  P.,  60. 


Hale,  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Everett,  58. 

Halsey,  Jeremiah,  20. 

Hamilton,  William  G.,  58. 

Harrison,  54. 

Hart,  hevi,  72. 

Hartford,  15,  26,  67. 

Hartford  Courant,  90. 

Hawley,  Gen.  Joseph  R.,24,  27,65. 

Hajmes,  45. 

Hebron,  72. 
j  Henr}',  Patrick,  49. 

Henrj",  Hon.  William  Wirt,  57. 
I  Hewitt,  E.  W.,  21. 
j  He\^^tt,  Miss  Hattie  E.,  22. 
IHill,  Hon.  E.  J.,  57. 
i  Hinckleys,  The,  72. 
!  Hinman,  8. 

I  Hoadly,  Dr.   Charles   J.,  8,  52,  87, 
i  88,  89. 

I  Hooker,  Thomas,  44,  45. 
I  Hoxie,  Miss  Minnie,  22. 
I  Hutchins,  Hon.,  of  Ohio,  69. 

Hutchinson,  Gov.,  47. 

Huntington,  Benjamin,  7. 

Huntington,  Rt.  Rev.  F.  D.,  60. 

Huntington,  J.  L.  W.,  20. 

Huntington,  Jabez,  7,  27,  52. 

Huntington,  Samuel,  7. 

Hyde,  Biirrell  W.,  20. 

Irish,  Mrs.  Phebe  C,  22. 

Isaacs,  Ralph,  13,  16,  17,  18. 

James  Island,  65. 

Jefferson,  33,  52. 

Johnson,  Stephen,  72. 

Johnson, Wilham  Samuel, 6,  7,  88,  89. 

Johnston,  Alexander,  44. 

Keep,  Dr.  Robert  P. ,  20. 

King,  John  S.,  21. 

Kingsley,  John  D.,  36. 

Kingsley,  Ashael,  36. 

Kneeland,  Mrs.  A.  G.,  22. 

Knox,  9,  33. 

Lafayette,  9,  82,  89,  90. 

Lauzun,  Duke  de,  9,  10,  25,  50,  53, 
54,  89. 

Learned,  Major  B.  P.,  20. 


95 


Leavens,  F.  J.,  20. 

Lebanon,  5.  6,  7,  S,  9,  10,  11,  16,  20, 

21,  24,  25,  30,  34,  35,  43,  50,  51, 

54,  56,  61,62,  63,  67,  80,  90,91. 
Ledyard,  John,  13,  14. 
Leonard,  Abiel,  72. 
Litchfield,  16. 
Loan  Exhibition,  24,  25. 
Loomis,   Hon.   Dwight,   64,  67,  68, 

69,  70. 
Loomis,  Mrs.  L.  P.,  23. 
Loomis,  W.  B.,  21. 
Love,  Rev.  WilHam  deLoss,  24,  30. 
Long  Island,  Battle  of,  17,  36. 
Ludlow,  45. 
Ludlow,  R.  Fulton,  61. 
Lyman,  Mrs.  G.  W.,  22. 
Lyman,  Mrs.  L.  L.,  23. 
Lyme,  72. 

Malborne,  Col.  Godfrey,  72. 
Mallory,  Hon.  Mr.,  of  Kentucky,  69. 
Manley,  Miss  Hattie  J.,  22. 
Mason,  Col.  John,  78. 
Mason,  Jeremiah,  78. 
Massachusetts,  44,  45,  46. 
Massachusetts    Historical   Society, 

14,  88. 
McCall,  Mrs.  Hobart,  23. 
Middletown,  16. 
Mills,  George  A.,  22. 
Mills,  Mrs.  George  A.,  22,  23. 
Minerva,  The,  18. 
Mitchell,  Donald  G.,  53. 
Moffit,  Mrs.  Edward,  22. 
Mohegan  Case,  6,  7. 
Moland,  Ensign  Joseph,  13,  14,  15. 
Montgomery,  James  M.,  61. 
Moore's  Charity  School,  79. 
Morgan,  Capt.  Griswold  E.,  37. 
Morgan,  George  H.,  37. 
Morgan,  Gov.,  of   N.  Y.,  37. 
Morgan,  Nathaniel  H.,  8. 
Morgan,  William  Avery,  37. 
Morgan,  William  E.,  37. 
Morris,  Jonathan  F.,  15,  31,  64. 
Morton,  Hon.  Levi  P.,  57. 


New  Connecticut,  79. 

New  Haven,  13,  17,  18,  26.  50. 

New  Jersey,  13,  16. 

New  London,  36,  51,  72. 

New  London  County,  71. 

New  Providence,  17. 

Norwalk,  50. 

Norwich,  8,  20,  25,  26,  54,  72,  90. 

Nott,  Dr.,  26. 

Noyes,  Frank  K.,  21. 

Noyes,  Mrs.  F.  K.,  22. 

Nye,  Mrs.  George  A.,  22,  23. 

Parks,  The,  43. 

Parsons,  9. 

Perit,  J.,  16. 

Peckham,  C.  H.,  23. 

Peters,  Rev.  Samuel,  72. 

Pettis,  Mrs.  Nancy  E.,  23. 

Phelps,  Hon.  Edward  J.,  61. 

Phelps,  Rev.  S.  Dryden,  82. 

Pitcher,  C.  L.,  21. 

Pitkin,  Governor,  6,  7. 

Post,  A.  R.,  21. 

Prindle,  Miss  Helen  O.,  22. 

Proctor,  Hon.  Redfield,  61. 

Provision  State,  9. 

Pumpelly,  J.  C,  59. 

Putnam,  33. 

Randall,  Mrs.  L.  H.,  23. 

Raymond,  George  C,  20. 

Revere,  Paul,  58. 

Robinsons,  The,  72. 

Robinson,  Faith,  80. 

Robinson,  Mrs.  Charles,  22. 

Robinson,  Miss  Louise,  23. 

Robinson,  Mrs.  William,  23. 

Rochambeau,  9,  10,  50,  53,  89. 

Rotton,  Ensign,  15. 

Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques,  52. 

Roustan,   Theodore,    French   i\Iin- 

ister,  57. 
Russell,  Hon.  Charles  A.,  61,  62. 
Skene,  Major,  15. 
Smith,  L.  P.,  21,  22. 
Spaulding,  Mrs.  L.  A.,  22. 
Spencer,  9. 


96 


Stael,  Baron  de.  89. 

Standish.  Clark,  21. 

Stark,  Miss  Masey  E..  22. 

Starr.  Frank  Farnsworth,  11. 

Stebbins.  Mrs.  H.  I).,  23. 

Stedman,  Joe,  23. 

Stiles,  Mrs.  Edward  A.,  22,  23. 

Stonington,  72. 

Strong,  Joseph,  72. 

Strong,  Mistress  Prudence,  10,  12. 

Stryker,  Gen.  William  S.,  61. 

Sullivan,  y. 

Sweet,  Charles,  Jr.,  21. 

Tallmadge,  Frederick  S.,  58. 

Tarbell,  Luther  L.,  61. 

Taylor,  Mrs.  Charles,  22. 

Taylor,  Mrs.  Nelson,  23. 

Taylor,  Mrs.  William,  23. 

Thomas,  Hon.  Mr.,  of  Mass.,  09. 

Thomas,  Mrs.  James  Y.,  22,  23. 

Thompson,  Col.,  18. 

Throop,  Sands,  21. 

Ticonderoga,  15. 

Tiernay,  71. 

Trumbull,  Abigail,  90. 

Trumbull,  David,  53,  77,  80,  88,  89. 

Trumbull,  Faith,  Elder,  90. 

Trumbull,  Faith,  76. 

Trumbull,  Dr.  Hammond,  44. 

Trumbull,  John  (painter),  52,  76. 

Trumbull,  John  (editor),  72. 

Trumbull,  Gov.  Jonathan,  Senr.,  6, 
7,  9,  12,  13,  14,  if),  25.  26,  27,  29, 
32,  42,  43,  46,  47,  48,  50,  51,  52, 
54.  71.  75.  79.  80.  83,  88,  89. 

Trumbull,  Gov.  Jonathan,  second, 

76.  79- 

Trumbull,  Jonathan,  33. 

Trumbull,  Capt.  Joseph,  75. 

Trumbull,  Gov.  Joseph,  79. 

Trumbull,  Joseph  (Commissary- 
General),  49,  76,  80. 

Trumbull,  Hon.  Lyman,  58. 

Trumbull,  Mary,  76. 

Trumbull  Papers,  13,  14,  88. 

Tucker,  Edgar  J.,  21. 


.  Turner,  Henry  E.,  61. 
'  Twichell,  Joseph  H.,  44. 

Valley  Forge,  39,  78. 

Van  Lennep,  Frederick,  61. 

Virginia,  44,  87. 

Wadsworth,  Col.,  49. 

Walden,  Miss,  22. 
I  Wales,  Nathaniel,  Jr.,  7. 
■  Wallingford,  16. 

Wanton,  Governor,  47. 

War  Governors,  55. 

War  Office,   8,  9,  10,  11,   14,  18,  19, 
24,  25,  26,  27,  35,  43,  48,  61,  81. 

Warner,  Charles  Dudley,  65. 

Washburn,  Hon.  E.  B.,  6g. 

Washington,    9,  32,  33,  42,  43,  48, 
49,  50,  51,  52,  55,  56,  71.  75,  81. 

Waterman,  Mrs.  Andrew,  22. 

Watterson,  Hon.  Henry,  70. 

Wattles,  Mrs.  Bethia  H.,  10,  11,  24, 
26,  27,  33. 

Webb,  Gen.  Alexander  S.,  61. 

Webb,  Dr.  William  Seward,  61. 

Webb's  Tavern,  81. 

Wells,  David  A.,  48. 

West,  Joshua,  7. 

Wethersfield,  81. 

Wetmore,  W.  A.,  21. 

Whitehead,  Hon.  John,  61. 

Williams,  Charles  Morgan,  11.  12. 

Williams,  Eliphalet,  76. 

Williams,  Ephraim,  77. 

Williams,  Ezekiel,  77. 

Williams,    Hon.    Nathaniel  B..  21, 
24,  26,  31. 

WiUiams,  Miss  Ellen  C,  22. 

Williams,  Solomon,  72,  76. 

Williams, William,  7,  25,72,  77,78,80. 

Willimantic,  26. 

Winchester,  Mrs.  Charles,  22. 

Windham,  5,  8,  26. 

Windham  County,  71. 

Winthrop,  28,  45,  54. 

Woodruff,  Charles  H.,  61. 

Woodstock,  5,  72. 

York  town,  36,  51,  81. 


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